


A Slayer's Duty

by Pixelmancer



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime), 鬼滅の刃 | Kimetsu no Yaiba (Manga)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Death, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29130933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixelmancer/pseuds/Pixelmancer
Summary: It seems that defending humanity is a task that Tanjiro Kamado will always carry with him, no matter how far he strays from home.One shot, for now.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 70





	A Slayer's Duty

**(A/N: This one-shot was written as a Secret Santa gift to a friend, and while that doesn't excuse the moments of poor pacing I would hope that it at least explains why not as much care was taken in regard to it. This whole thing was written over the course of about eight days. Some liberties were also taken in regard to character ages and the general timeline, but I hope that it's easily looked past. Also… this is the first thing I've ever posted in terms of fanfiction. Criticism is openly appreciated. That said, let's get this going, shall we?)**

* * *

It bothered him that waking up to the scent of grief was becoming a new kind of normalcy, yet that was how he found himself coming to.

That he had woken up on his own was strange enough by its own right. Judging by the way the sun was bearing down upon him, it had to be around noon at the very least, and there's no way Inosuke or Zenitsu would be able to keep their antics contained long enough for Tanjiro to catch those kinds of extra hours' rest.

A dull sense of something being off about the whole situation danced in the back of his mind, but the stinging ache behind his eyes drew his attention away just long enough for him to realise the other major issue with his awakening.

The tiled stone floor beneath him was distinctly not the mat of tree-roots and soil he and his friends had finally stopped upon the night before.

Where was he, exactly and why… did nothing smell right?

What was the last thing he knew?

He and his friends had been on their way to rendezvous with Rengoku, the Flame Hashira, and had finally opted to take a moment of respite in the woods on their way to something called a 'train station'. They'd gone to sleep after much bickering over the prime sleeping spots courtesy of his two comrades in arms, and then...

Something was missing.

Tanjiro pushed himself to a proper sitting position with a grunt of exertion accompanying a twinge of discomfort in his back. Idly he noted that whatever had happened to bring him here had not been gentle on his uniform. Indeed, the black and green checkerboard haori that had been a constant companion for years now bore frayed, tattered edges, and five small holes close to the left wrist area. The Demon Slayer garments themselves lay undamaged beneath.

Either way, he was clearly in a city of some kind, but that did little to narrow things down. With the sheer size of the building he was resting against, his only guess would have been Tokyo. Only there had he come across structures so vast and towering.

Reaching out with his sense of smell did little to help, so pervasive was the flood of emotions from just outside his alleyway. Picking out individual scents was a futile endeavour, but amongst the tide lingered hints of apathy, withered anger… All symptoms of a far greater sadness.

Stumbling to his feet on shaky legs, Tanjiro held a hand against the wall for support, patting down his dishevelled clothes to a more respectable state and checking his equipment in the same action. His sword remained still sheathed at his hip, yet the small stores of medicine and curative salves he carried on his person were nowhere to be found.

Most imperatively of all, however, was the complete absence of strong scents from within his lacquered box. His fingers scrambled to open the latch while his mind raced for any possibility save the one he knew instinctively he would be provided with. Despite his nose already providing him the true answer, it did nothing to dull the lurch his heart gave when he laid eyes upon the empty space.

That couldn't be right.

He'd bid her goodnight just hours ago, and the box was still here! Why was she gone?

"Nezuko…?" The word fell from his lips in disbelief and the sharp accompanying pain told Tanjiro that raising his voice any further would be a poor decision. "Nezuko! Where are you?" He paid it no heed, peeking his head around the alley's exit in the vein hope that his sister and the rest of his friends would be right there to assuage his fears.

No such luck existed.

Tanjiro paused only to hook the box's straps over his shoulders before emerging into the throng of people making their way down the wide pathway, still calling out hoarsely for his sister.

It didn't matter to him if the sun were blatantly at its peak, that Nezuko couldn't possibly emerge to greet him. He just needed a sign, any sign at all that she was safe.

He was an attention catching sight, drawing eyes from all around as he walked. Their gazes ranged from confused to pitying, and only faintly did the young man notice that everyone around him wore colours far drabber than his own. Standing closer to the buildings was the occasional man or woman in some kind of uniform overlooking the crowd.

"I'm right here, Nezuko, please come out!" He bumped past an older man, one who barely spared him a glance on his way past. Tanjiro fought against the urge to drop into an apologetic bow, only for the grim expression the man wore to give him pause.

"This… Nezuko. Was she important to you?"

Tanjiro blinked, very much not liking the past tense utilised in that manner but seeing no reason to be rude. "She's my little sister, sir."

And then he found a hand on his shoulder. "Then I'm sorry for your loss, boy. But you're making a scene." The elderly gentleman shifted Tanjiro's attention towards the uniformed people from earlier, several of whom now watched the duo with some level of interest. "The Military has enough on their plate managing us as it is. You hurry along before they run out of rations, you hear?"

Just like that, the man clapped Tanjiro's shoulders one last time and started to make his way towards the crowd's unknown destination, leaving the Demon Slayer momentarily stunned. "You've got it wrong! She isn't dead, sir! She… can't be."

_But what if she was?_

Doubt settled in, a grinning fear in the back of his mind just waiting for a moment of weakness to truly emerge.

No, that was ridiculous. He had seen her alive only a few hours ago, and he was relatively unscathed himself. It would've been harder to put Nezuko down for good than it would've been to kill him, assuming they really were attacked.

The last time that Tanjiro ever saw the man whose name he never learned, he watched him look back over his shoulder with a nearly vacant expression.

"That's what we all wanted to believe at one point or another. It's easier to give up now. Less painful that way. Trust me on that if nothing else, boy."

He'd looked so defeated as he walked away that the young Demon Slayer couldn't do anything but stare in silence.

No.

Nezuko wasn't dead. Zenitsu and Inosuke weren't dead either. He would never allow himself to believe that.

Still…

Tanjiro held the box straps tighter and watched the old man disappear into the crowd, looking even more lost now than before.

With a crowd of people rivalling that of Tokyo's busy streets surging around him in an unknown place, without any frame of reference or any clues at all as to how he had arrived…

Tanjiro didn't have the first clue what to make of the situation.

He thought briefly about what his friends would do if they were in his place. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it wasn't a helpful exercise.

" _HEY! You just mentioned food and I'm_ _ **starving**_ _! Let's go, old guy! I'll race ya, loser gives up his plate! AAAHAHAHA!"_

" _Don't let me gooooo! I don't wanna be all alone in this weird place, take me with yoooooou!"_

Inappropriate though the levity was, Tanjiro couldn't help the smile that found its way onto his face.

With those guys on the hunt for him, there's no way they wouldn't find each other eventually. They were all stubborn like that. Plus, there wasn't a chance that Zenitsu would leave Nezuko anywhere she could get hurt. He could count on the cowardly boy for that much.

Inosuke was tough enough to keep them safe too. And with him only looking for one lost ally rather than three, it'd be no problem just so long as he kept himself somewhere easy to reach.

All he had to do was wait and see.

Holding onto that idea as best he could, Tanjiro finally started making his way in the same direction as everyone else, downtrodden for the time being but hopeful that things would return back to the way they used to be in short order.

Looking back; if he had known, then, that he would not see a single one of his friends or acquaintances for far too many years to come…

Would it have made his burden easier to bear?

* * *

There was a small list of things that Tanjiro was swiftly coming to realise.

Something terrible had happened to these people, and recently enough for the wounds to be fresh, in some cases literally if the occasional waft of blood crossing his senses was any indication. It was more common an occurrence than he would have liked.

Secondly, whatever tragedy had come to pass was dangerous enough that it meant evacuating an exorbitant amount of people at much too little notice. More importantly was where the flow of people was coming from. Looking back, and subsequently all around him, Tanjiro took proper notice of the vast walls surrounding the settlement from every side.

They were by far the largest man-made structure he had ever seen in his life. Not even the sprawling city of Tokyo had struck him as much and as such it was baffling that he'd failed to take notice of them before; though it was not unfounded given his priorities at the time.

Had the Demons really been giving these people so much trouble that they needed such towering defences?

It wasn't as if Demons weren't a threat, but they were inclined to attack fringe settlements and lone travellers in the effort to conceal their presence from the Demon Slayer Corps. Either this city had come under assault from a great many Demons or the few they had fought had been so monstrous it was preferable to construct walls so high that the clouds might struggle to be seen above them.

What could possibly have pushed them this far? Surely if they were in danger of this calibre, the Corps would have been dispatched to quell the threat? Weren't the Hashira pretty much all at the Master's estate while he and his companions recovered at the Butterfly Mansion. Where were they?

It was all so damn confusing.

Tanjiro decided to ponder the walls further while he sank his teeth into an unappetising chunk of bread. Stale. Barely enough to fit his hand, even, but filling enough. It had to be. From what he overheard in the line to receive this portion it became apparent that this was the only food most of the people surrounding him would get for an entire week.

That there was so little food to go around only made him feel worse about taking a portion for himself. These people were on the brink of starving. By the time he realised just how scarce resources were, though, he had already taken his share.

Giving out a portion to someone else would only seem unfair to everyone else watching. They'd wonder why they didn't deserve that kind of gift instead.

His only choice was to appreciate what he'd been given.

Still… Even in the harshest summers back home, when there was no market for charcoal and the crops were thin, a meal per week was unthinkable.

The sound of raised voices drew his attention to a group of five men and a single woman arguing over one of their tiny loaves. He watched from his perch atop Nezuko's box with a careful eye in case the situation deteriorated.

How dearly he wished this were the only occurrence like this he'd seen on his way to a calmer spot to gather himself.

"I saw you get five whole pieces just minutes ago, girlie! How's that fair on us, huh? Why do we got to settle for one measly loaf while you two make off like bandits?" The apparent ringleader of the men tried to take a step forward only to be halted by the younger man beside the cringing woman outstretching his hand, cowering back somewhat himself. "What, you sayin' that's okay? What gives?"

"It's not like that! Those extra portions were for our children, not us! You have to understand. We didn't want to-" Whatever the shaking man was about to say was cut off when he was shoved backwards.

"So what? Even before Shiganshina fell, some of us hadn't eaten in days!" Tanjiro paused mid-bite at the angry declaration but forced himself to continue eating in spite of the sudden flare of guilt.

Shiganshina… That place behind the gate? Were there more walls there, too? Just how big was this place, and if there really did exist even more obstacles outside those he could already see, Tanjiro had no idea how he was supposed to leave.

Lost in his musings, he didn't quite catch what the pushed man said in response. Whatever it was pushed the ringleader over some unseen edge and caused him to step forward with his fist raised.

The lady shouted out in shock.

Tanjiro leapt from his spot.

The man's fist fell, only to stop mere inches from the other man's face. "Get off me! He's hoarding food! Lemme go you bastard!"

Of course, the new arrival didn't seem keen to remove the death grip she had on the man's wrist despite his struggles.

A woman in her thirties, by the looks of it. Dressed in that same uniform he saw every now and then. If he was interpreting the muttering of the crowds correctly at the time, that meant she was part of this city's guards. And she looked distinctly unimpressed. "If you have the strength spare to beat someone down for their rations, you're well enough to go another day without your own." She leaned in, face uncomfortably close to her prey's, "Unless you're good to take what you have and _back off_."

Seconds passed in near silence.

Tanjiro didn't realise he was holding his breath until the man relented by tugging back his arm and guiding his allies away, shooting dirty looks back at the brown-haired woman all the while.

That didn't stop everyone around from hearing the parting shot. "That's your proof right there, people. The Military doesn't care about us!" And like that, he vanished out of sight.

She had failed to blink until the very instant that the group of men disappeared behind a corner, the ghost of a smile tugging at her lip. Only when she was satisfied that they had dispersed did she let herself relax. "Are you two okay?"

The young couple watched with their own matching smiles as their rescuer turned to face them. "Y-Yes, Rina, you got here before anything untoward happened." Said the man, bowing gratefully.

Now with a name to put to the face, Tanjiro noticed several moments too late that he had remained in his mid-step pose. He straightened himself up with a polite cough when he subsequently noticed the woman was looking his way.

Nobody got hurt. That was good.

After seeing several people break out into scuffles over the smallest scrap of food without any intervention, he was starting to doubt whether the guards were paying enough attention. Sometimes it was nice to get proven wrong.

"You doing alright there? That's a nasty looking scar you've got."

Tanjiro blinked. She was in front of him now, peering at the spot just above his left eye. "Oh, no miss, this is an old mark. It doesn't even hurt, see?" He smiled, running a hand idly over the strange pattern on his forehead.

It was good of her to be concerned, though.

Rina considered that and seemed to discard the matter, opting instead to examine the rest of him. "That's a relief, then. Are you on your own?"

"I am. But not for long. My sister; my friends, too. They're out there somewhere. I've just got to find them." He said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the gate to Shiganshina looming in the distance.

Just like that, the woman gave him the same distant look that the old man from a few hours ago had given him. It seemed less affected somehow. As if she knew a terrible truth yet had never felt the effects of that loss before to know how deep the pain could run.

It was a practiced look. One she'd no doubt given to so many unfortunate souls over the past day or so that the count had been lost long ago. "What's your name, boy?"

"Tanjiro Kamado." He bowed, "It's good to meet you, miss…?"

"Rina Castelle. Wall Rose Garrison, division three." The woman placed a closed fist over her heart and the other behind her back in some form of salute. Her indulgent grin reassured him that he wasn't in any trouble. "Those people you were about to step in and help out are my cousins. So, thanks for that."

"It was no problem, really." Tanjiro waved off the gratitude like it was no big deal – and considering he hadn't had to do anything, it wasn't – even though those kinds of sentiments from people he assisted never failed to make him happy.

"Even so. Not many refugees willing to stick their necks out for someone they don't know. Might as well accept the gratitude while it's on offer. That's a little scarce too, nowadays." The woman gave a humourless chuckle.

He opened his mouth to respond only to be interrupted by the man who had been rescued. "Pardon me, young man, but isn't that a sword at your hip?" The gentleman pointed for emphasis, causing both Tanjiro and Rina to glance downward. The latter of the two seemed intrigued.

"It is." Tanjiro nodded in affirmation, resting his hand atop the hilt. It would do no good to draw a sword in a public space without reason, even just for a demonstration.

He got a quiet chuckle in response. "Well, I'll be. Haven't seen one like that since we visited the, ah… Damn, what was it called?" He asked, turning slightly towards his wife, "That museum over in Wall Sina. The one about the history of humanity."

The slender woman hummed. "Sina's Human Providence Exhibition?"

"Something to that effect, yes. Dreary place wasn't it?"

They listened to the couple continue down their tangent just long enough for the subject to have changed entirely before Rina turned back to face him with a new level of interest. "You know how to use that thing?"

In spite of the casual manner in which the question was asked, something about it felt heavy. "Well enough, yes. Why?" He tilted his head, "Do you need my help? I'd be happy to do something to assist you all if that's the case!"

To his chagrin, the response he got was a derisive snort. "Unless you feel like taking down a Titan or two with just that one sword then I reckon there's not much you can do with it." She shook her head, "No. I was thinking that you could sell it off unless it was important to you. An antique like that would go quite a long way, you know. If you actually intend to use it to hunt, though, I suppose that works too."

Titan? That was a new term. But he supposed that quite a few of the foes he had faced could be called that. One Hand Demon in particular, or the Father Spider Demon. Perhaps those kinds of creatures were commonplace, hence the existence of such hefty defences?

Still. The very idea of selling a nichirin blade was insane. If breaking one would bring mister Haganezuka to the brink of committing brutal acts of violence, he shuddered to think what would happen if he sold one off like a cheap toy.

He would be avoiding that thought for a while. "I'll need it after I finally find my friends again, so I can't do that."

That look again, this time tinged with an undertone of tension. Resentment almost. He could smell that much even if he couldn't understand why she was feeling it. "You're really confident that they're still out there, aren't you?" Rina muttered. "Don't hold onto that hope too tightly. I've seen what the Titans did to that place. If there really are more refugees that haven't come in yet, they're going to be in a really bad way. You'll have to wait until the Military releases a list of the dead and missing, but…" It was as if she suddenly realised that she was talking to someone much younger than herself, slipping quickly into an apologetic tone, "But that's just what I think! I'm sure you'll hear good news if you stay patient."

"Oh, that's okay. I was planning on going out there to check for myself if they don't show up in a little while." Tanjiro smiled earnestly as though he hadn't just dropped what amounted to an intent for suicide into the conversation.

For a moment, one would strain to hear the intake of breath.

"You… can't actually be serious, right? Do you have an actual death wish or is this just a shitty joke?!" Rina took an angry step forward, towering a head over him to grip his shoulder tightly. Distantly he noted that her cousins had stopped their bickering in the background. "I was _kidding_ before. You just got out of that hellhole, now you're telling me you want to go back on your _own_? With just a useless old sword to go with you. Really! _Think,_ boy! Didn't you see what the Titans can do? How many people they killed and _ate_?"

Tanjiro took a sudden step back in the face of the previously affable woman's exploding temper, but there was no stopping her now.

"I wasn't there myself, but I know people who were. People who died trying and _failing_ to save people! How arrogant do you have to be to think you're invincible just because you've got a sword at your side? You wouldn't be able to reach the napes of the two-meter Titans, let alone the fifteen-meter ones! You're probably not even strong enough to cut into them if you could!"

At that, his eyes widened. _Fifteen meters_? What sort of monstrous Demons were the people of this city dealing with?! It was little wonder that she thought him a lunatic to try and get outside the walls, even if he could prove himself to be a Demon Slayer.

And there were enough of these Titan-class Demons to lay siege to an entire settlement surrounded by walls that had to be at least fifty meters tall. That was insane!

Where were the Hashira? They were the only people he could even begin to fathom beating back a tide of monsters like that.

Yet there hadn't been even a whisper in the Corps about a place such as this one.

This place was a complete unknown. That was the only explanation Tanjiro could come up with to explain how this city and its people had gone so long without assistance. But that didn't make any sense either. With walls of this size, you'd probably be able to see them from miles away. _Someone_ had to have found this place and reported back.

 _Unless they were eaten by these new Demons before they could escape_.

He silenced the pessimistic voice in his head. It did no good to think like that. There had to be a more reasonable explanation, surely.

That begged yet another question assuming everything he thought was true. Did these people even know about the Demon Slayers? If this area was truly unknown to the Corps, then his crow wouldn't know where to find him, or the others.

Questions upon questions upon questions. Every new piece of information he received provided more problems than it solved.

Rina seemed to take his dumbstruck silence as an admission. "Realised how stupid you are yet? One boy with a sword isn't changing the world any time soon. The quicker you realise that the better. You're not. Going. To Shiganshina. Am I making myself clear?" Giving him one last shake to make her point, she removed her hand from his shoulder and brushed it tiredly through waves of thin blonde hair.

Tanjiro remained silent despite being aware that he was being watched intently by at least three pairs of eyes, too lost in thought to give them much mind.

Of course, the eventual answer was clear no matter how troubling these new revelations were.

"I know that Nezuko and the others are still out there. They're stronger than even they give themselves credit for. I'm sorry, but if there's even the tiniest chance that I can find them, I'm not giving up. I can't! If I have to fight these Titan-Demons, then I will! And…" His fist clenched, eyes brimming with determination "And I'll free everyone from these walls, too! No amount of monsters are going to keep me from finding my family again!"

Rina peered down at him with an unblinking stare, something unplaceable in her expression. She gave a quiet sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. " _Demons_. Ha! That's a good name for them." The brief laugh that escaped her then was equal parts incredulous and impressed.

After that, the strangest thing happened. The happy couple lingering nearby started laughing themselves, leaving Tanjiro incredibly confused until the young woman spoke up.

"He sounds just like you used to, Rina!" She crowed, elbowing the aforementioned soldier while pointing right at the now-thoroughly-befuddled boy with a wide grin on her face, "Making a big show out of joining the Garrison to be a hero; complete with toy sword and all."

Both subjects of ridicule flushed and sputtered for some kind of clever response when the other half of the couple cut through the teasing. "Why not enlist?" The man asked with complete seriousness.

The gravity in the father's tone brought Tanjiro up short and convinced him not to discard the notion out of hand. An interruption like that conveniently bought his wife time to escape the weak punch thrown her way courtesy of Rina.

He continued, "You seem to have the determination for it at least. Joining up with the Survey Corps after you graduate would guarantee you get outside the walls. Bit late to be checking for survivors by then, but it's a start." A noncommittal shrug, "You're obviously a good sort, mister Tanjiro. Personally, I'd recommend you join the Garrison. Safer that way. Shoot for the Military Police if you have the skills for it. Your friends would want you to be alive when they find you again, right?"

It was a fair point, but with the situation being what it was, Tanjiro didn't think that it was a viable option. If he were correct in his assumptions then it would be a very long time before the Demon Slayer Corps would even be able to find his general location. By virtue of unprecedented hostility from the surrounding Titan-Demons or otherwise.

Plus, if Tanjiro was really the type to shy away from danger, did he really have any right to call himself a Demon Slayer?

He tried his level best not to think poorly of Zenitsu. The other boy made it a fairly difficult endeavour sometimes.

But if even he didn't know how he got here, how was anyone else supposed to know? "If you want to kill as many Titans as you can, though…" Rina spoke up, looking pensively to the side, "The Survey Corps are definitely the way to go. A man like you would do well there."

A hint of emotion hid under her words. Something so meagre that before his extensive training it was possible he'd never have been able to smell it.

_Guilt…?_

And from the other two, amusement. Dark amusement. Like a cat watching a mouse flee into a trap.

He didn't want to be here anymore. Rina seemed likable enough but now that he was focusing on the subtle smirks sitting upon the lips of the watching couple it was impossible not to feel uncomfortable.

"You've given me something to think about, anyway. Thank you for your time, miss!" His bow was hasty to be sure, but he at least wanted to have a look at the gate to Shiganshina before the sun dipped below the walls. That it would get him out of a conversation quickly turning sour was just a bonus.

All three of them waved him off as he went to go and pick up the box that had been left sitting on the dusty stone pathway, and it was only when he gripped the strap that he noticed his bread was half-eaten, forgotten in his attempt to defuse the tense situation from earlier. It was covered in grit, having tumbled over in the breeze several times. A more sardonic part of him figured that it probably didn't taste much worse than it already did, but he opted to leave it regardless.

Tanjiro felt his stomach rumble and winced. He'd be paying for that decision later.

"Huh. Poor kid. Do you think we should have given him a piece from one of our portions, dear? He was trying to help us after all." The conversation continued to grow distant behind him as he walked, and all the while he could feel one pair of eyes in particular boring holes into the back of his head. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they belonged to.

"Nonsense! It is a shame, but Rina worked ever so hard to sneak us these extra rations. Wasting them on somebody aiming to go off and die in the Survey Corps would be especially foolish, no?"

"Ahaha! Ah… I suppose you're right."

His heart dropped.

When he spun on his heel, the couple was nowhere to be seen.

The only one left watching him was miss Castelle, who didn't last long looking at his shocked, hurt expression before turning away herself. She disappeared down the road without any further fanfare.

Tanjiro stood, fists clenched and shaking.

He'd thought… No, he'd assumed. He'd assumed that they had been telling the truth about having to provide for children, but that was only because they felt no guilt for him to sniff out in the first place.

Unbidden, he remembered the words spoken by the one he thought was the unjust aggressor as he'd been chased away.

" _That's your proof right there, people! The Military doesn't care about us!"_

A shudder ran through him and he tried very hard to act as if it was not out of anger.

How many people would go hungry for other people's selfishness? Fights were breaking out already when supplies were at their peak. What would happen if a portion were taken away every single time a member of the Military felt like it, or worse: what would happen when the people _learned_ of that betrayal?

Chaos. Revolt. Things he only used to hear about in stories his mother used to teach him about early settlements in Japan when feudal lords ruled over all they could claim, and the people would suffer for it.

If there was one quality he had always taken for granted when it came to the people he called friends and family it was their near-unfailing honesty. Certainly, there were subjects they would rather not encroach upon should they be able to avoid it, but they would tell him so. Tanjiro couldn't remember a single time that master Urokodaki had told him a falsehood, nor Zenitsu or Inosuke. Even the Hashira refused to hold anything back for the most part.

He had only been a resident of this place for a scant few hours and already he could tell deceit was rampant. The air was thick with it, buried beneath the initial overpowering stench of depression. Most of these people were willing to do whatever they had to in order to survive.

The sad thing was that Tanjiro truly couldn't find it in himself to blame them.

Rina Castelle had seemed to be a very pleasant person on first appearance. So much so that he had failed to suspect a thing. If even she was capable of stealing rations, what did that say about those Military folk even less scrupulous?

Only minutes ago, he had every intention of seeking out a route to enlist himself, yet now he couldn't be sure. If corruption was as rife as he feared then what could he do?

To think that his life had grown so complicated so quickly. It wasn't as if he lived a simple life beforehand. This was all too much. He needed to gather his thoughts.

Tanjiro found himself a little while later sat under the shade of a tree with his eyes closed in was only one person he could think of to look towards for guidance.

" _Tanjiro." Urokodaki spoke with his usual low rumble, kneeling across from his pupil. It was a comforting sound. One of the few constants that had remained in Tanjiro's life for years. What he'd do without it, he didn't know. "The very first action a Demon Slayer must take is not immediate engagement." A hand was raised to forestall the expected question, "Decisiveness_ _ **is**_ _vital, yes, however… Consider the consequences of taking decisive action without as much information as you can gather. A decision made in the field without knowledge_ _ **of**_ _the field is worth nothing."_

_Even after all this time, it was impossible to look his master in the 'eyes' at length when it felt like he was being reprimanded. "The false wall- "_

_He was smacked on the head with the bottom of a closed fist before he could finish the sentence. "Excuses serve no purpose to the dead. You tried to scale down the mountain under the assumption that, after all this time, all that would change was the lethality of the existing traps. You failed to account for your enemy diverging from expected behaviours. Demons are their own entities first and foremost. What might drive one may repulse another. To expect to approach every situation with the same motions is the height of foolishness."_

_It seemed simple enough on a conceptual level, but Tanjiro would admit he still failed to see the obvious until he had already fallen into an unexpected trap. He had the nicks and scrapes to prove it. Some of them had only recently finished bleeding. Master Urokodaki was not a believer in gentle lessons. The young man bowed his head, and the fist atop it slipped down to rest on his shoulder._

" _The foremost principle of Water Breathing is adaptability. The mindfulness to ebb where necessary, the decisiveness and courage to flow when an opportunity opens itself to you, along with the strength to crash upon your foes like a raging current until your task is complete. There can be none of the latter where the former is not present." His master's voice became gentle, quiet in the crackling firelight. "When the time is right, you will not falter. Whatever it is that you decide… All that I ask is that you are capable of telling me, without hesitation, that you did what you believed was best."_

" _Master Urokodaki…" Tanjiro finally brought himself to look up at his master, whose mask he would swear instantly morphed to bear a devilish smirk._

" _You will give me five hundred extra sword swings for every trap you fell into today. Each swing performed poorly will mean an extra hundred on top of that."_

_The Demon Slayer in training gave a great sigh and pulled himself to his feet, sure to be sore come morning._

Those days…

Even if he vastly preferred Nezuko being awake and exploring the world with him, he missed those simpler times a great deal.

Tanjiro glanced up at the sky and felt at peace for the first time since waking in this strange place.

He would content himself with resting for just a bit longer, and then he would do what he had set his mind upon.

If he wanted to save these people, and he did beyond a shadow of a doubt, then he would need to become someone who could make a true difference. First, he would find out how one was to enlist in the Military and gather as much information about the distant land he found himself in as he possibly could. Finding his friends remained a vital objective, but this also seemed to be the only path to doing so. Assuming they weren't already in the walls with him, which he doubted – his two fellow Demon Slayers would have caused plenty enough commotion to garner his attention by now he reckoned – then the only course of action he could take was to get out of the walls. And the only way to do _that_ was apparently to become a member of the Survey Corps. It fulfilled everything he needed it to.

No matter how long it took, he swore that he would make a difference.

Fate evidently intended on taking him at his word.

Later that evening, Tanjiro held a tattered paper between his hands sporting an utterly slack-jawed expression as if all wind had been knocked out of him. Anyone who may have happened to pass him by in this moment would likely have thought he was no longer breathing. Maybe that would have been for the best. Breathing would mean acknowledging that the world he lived in was reality.

Regardless of how much he stared at the words on the recruitment poster, they adamantly refused to change. Using the date on a discarded newspaper he had found as reference; he confirmed his worst fear.

Tanjiro would be the first person to admit he didn't put much stock in his age, it had never hindered his goals at all, and it wasn't as though most Demons discriminated based on age when they feasted. However, he knew for a fact that he had turned fifteen somewhen during his training with Master Urokodaki. If he had his mental calendar straight, he had only just reached his sixteenth year shortly before departing the Butterfly Mansion.

There, printed in large, tacky font as if to mock him, lay the words that would seal his fate.

 _Applicants must be seventeen or older to apply_.

"Oh, that's just not even _fair_!"

* * *

As he found it often tended to be when he had a consistent goal to work towards, a year passed without any particular fanfare. Seasons completed their cycle, the world moved on, and if he were entirely honest Tanjiro would admit that not all that much had changed for him.

Of particular pride was his learned mastery of Total Concentration: Constant. When he had set out with his companions to rendezvous with Rengoku he had only been able to keep it up for several days without a break. With just about three hundred and fifty days free to practice and a far greater understand of Total Concentration Breathing as a concept than back during his days as a novice under Urokodaki, it had not taken him overly long to accomplish. Now, it was more alien for him to lack the incredible capabilities granted by the ability than it was for him to be in his normal state.

He was also more than willing to use it in his newfound daily life. Sad as it was to admit, but he had grown unused to living peacefully. Aside from the brief moments of respite they were occasionally provided between missions, the last time he had truly felt at peace with the world was…

_Standing frozen with his boots buried in snow._

_Blood pounding in his ears._

_A silent house painted crimson with the remnants of his family._

_Nezuko's corpse laid over Rokuta's in a final act of protection._

… But that was in the past. It didn't matter now.

Still, quiet life or not, there was work to be done. The Shiganshina refugees needed places to live, himself included in that number, and ferrying supplies in-between his persistent quest for information meant that he was never left wanting for ways to keep himself occupied.

Though he'd taken great care to ensure he never excelled as a worker to the extent it would seem unnatural, it was inevitable that people would begin to recognise him. With his vibrant haori, distinctive mark, and the sword at his hip, he made for a memorable figure. Where once he was treated as another helping hand in the long list of the downtrodden homeless seeking work, now the merchants and supply guards greeted him with curt nods and in rarer cases a 'good morning' or two.

Controlling his increased strength to move large carts full of crates and barrels loaded to the brim with food, materials, and other necessities while not appearing to be anything more than an especially fit young man was a challenge in and of itself.

His job had become a great deal easier as of halfway through the year. He didn't like to dwell on what happened, but it was yet another fact branded into his skull that the place he now lived was not a kind or gentle one. Rather, it was as cold and unfeeling as the very walls that kept them safe. Sometimes he still deliberated whether things might have been different had he gone with those unfortunate enough to be chosen for the suicidal operation to re-take the land inside Wall Maria. Though it pained him to no end to admit it, it wouldn't have been right. In the end he was just one person, and he didn't even know how he would measure up to the Titans yet. If he had died a pointless death in those forgotten lands, he would never be able to see Nezuko or the others again. He could make more of a difference this way.

Avoiding the self-loathing that came with thinking that way did not come easily. At his heart he was still the humble young man who wished for nothing more than to go back to the days of selling charcoal to the village to provide for his family. Thinking of himself as special, more _important_ than normal people… it felt like he was spitting on all those who died to reclaim their homes.

Unfortunately, the alternative was giving up on Nezuko, and even the very notion of doing that was impossible. He'd learned to face the monsters of the world for her. Had trained, fought, and bled for her. Compared to that, a year of separation was nothing.

' _Still'_ , he mused after wiping the sweat from his brow, " _I kind of want to know how I measure up to the other two now. I'd be a little worried about Zenitsu, but…'_ Tanjiro chuckled to himself, slumping down against a tree and placing his sheathed blade carefully at his side now that he'd completed his practice swings for the day. ' _There's no way Inosuke let him fall behind. Not if Zenitsu wants to lose the battle for his share of dinner every day at least!'_

Minutes passed.

The sun suffused his little patch of solitude with a pleasant warmth and for the first time in quite some time he was content to close his eyes and let himself enjoy it. Fatigue seeped from his bones with the accompaniment of a deep exhale. His hair cushioned the back of his head against the rough bark by virtue of having let it grow out to the same volume it held while he attempted in vain to complete Master Urokodaki's final trial. Not by any particular decision of his own, simply that the means of cutting his hair were few and far between and he found that he appreciated the way it looked now that he didn't have to deal with travelling great distances with it.

Tanjiro held out a hand to the sun with fingers splayed out to let the sunlight filter through them, gaze flicking over the multitude of scrapes and calluses that were the evidence of his training. Whilst finding a space to actually perform Water Breathing techniques in secret had proven difficult, very few had batted an eye at him once he'd seen fit to claim this spot and start swinging his sword constantly whenever he was finished with work, but those had quickly dispersed once the novelty wore off.

He'd upped his regimen. The number of swings didn't matter, only that by the end he felt the comforting ache of a hard day's conditioning. Even if he failed to practice his true techniques as much as he liked, he never once let his memory of the proper forms grow dull. As a very astute friend had once commanded, they were beaten into the very marrow of his bones. With the power of Total Concentration: Constant, he could push himself further than ever before, and get more out of his training in return.

It was obvious why it was the most basic skill for the Hashira, in retrospect.

Dropping his agility training was unfortunate but he was already drawing too much attention to himself as it was. He got the impression that leaping across rooftops and sprinting down the streets may be pushing that a tad too far.

For now, though…?

An easy, dare he say _lazy_ grin adorned his lips as his hand fell to his lap, taking another deep breath in and out. He appreciated his gifted sense of smell every single day but never so much as when he was greeted with such a pure scent of spring.

When he continued to go uninterrupted, a rarity as the time for enlistment drew ever closer to the horizon, Tanjiro figured he might as well make another entry into his journal.

It was something he bought on a whim. Partially to support the frail old woman who was selling it and partly to satisfy his sense of nostalgia. Despite not having Nezuko nearby to narrate to, it felt wrong to be training and learning for so long and not have an outlet for his discoveries. Besides, it would help to have kept a record for when he reunited with everyone else once again.

The pages near the start of the diary were worn thin and felt as if they would tear if he turned them in an incorrect way, so numerous were the observations he had made on his first few days of owning it. Looking back, it was nearly incredible how far he had come from the lost and alone young man who had first arrived inside the walls.

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Day one._

_Hi there Nezuko! Hello to you too, Zenitsu, if you're reading this over her shoulder. Please say hello to Inosuke as well if he's nearby because I know he's probably not interested in this sort of thing, but I want him to feel included too._

_I know that I've written that this is my first day, but that's only of owning this journal. In reality I've been here for about a week and a half by now. If you've gotten the chance to read this then I assume it's obvious, but I'm alright! Arriving here was a surprise to me, too, and I hope it didn't cause too much trouble with your mission. I realised a little too late that the main reason I wanted to meet Rengoku in the first place was to ask him something important, but I hope working with a Hashira was a good lesson for the rest of you either way._

_I'm writing this mostly to document my time inside this walled city. It seems as if I'm going to end up being here for a long time. I'm really sorry I can't be there with the rest of you right now, but getting outside of the walls has proven to be… impossible. There's only two main ways to get out of them, and from what I've learned from looking at a map of the entire settlement then one of those only takes me further away from the outside world! They're all heavily guarded, too. I don't want to go into too much detail because something horrible happened recently and a lot of people are in a bad way right now. On top of THAT, the simplest route to get out of the walls would have been to leave through a place called Shiganshina, which is exactly what was destroyed shortly before my arrival._

_Oh, right, I should probably mention: If somehow you've acquired this journal without having met up with me, DO NOT come here on your own under any circumstances. Really, I mean it. There's a reason the walls here are fifty meters high. From what I gather there are a huge number of Demons surrounding this settlement. They all sound frighteningly powerful. One of the public safety posters I saw the day before last showed a chart, and… Some of them get up to fifteen metres tall! Fifteen!_

_When you tell Inosuke about that, please tell him that fifteen meters is just about the size of the Father Spider Demon twice over with extra on top of that. He'll understand what I mean. Er… hopefully._

_I wish I could tell you that's the worst of it, but it gets worse. A lot worse. Nobody had the time to get any good pictures of it, but there's one of these 'Titan' Demons beyond all the others. People who were there say that its head peered_ _**over the wall** _ _. Sixty meters, they say. It kicked right through the gate to the outside world, and a horde of those smaller – in a manner of speaking – Demons swarmed inside and destroyed Shiganshina._

_People saw their loved ones get eaten right in front of them. Their homes, their livelihoods crushed beneath the heel of these Demons._

_How is anyone supposed to fight a Demon of that size? It doesn't even sound as if it used any kind of Blood Demon Art. If a monster like that even has one, which I hope it doesn't._

_Something like that HAS to be one of the Upper Moons, I just know it. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the Upper Moon One or even Two._

_Sorry for bringing down the mood, everyone, but you have to know what's happening here. If you intend to come and find me, make sure you bring the Hashira. Talk to the one called Giyu Tomioka and show him this. He'll believe you and (I hope) should be willing to help. Bring however many you can convince; I think we're going to need them._

_Because it looks like I'm not going to be able to leave, and because I want to do whatever I can to help these people, I've decided to train to enlist in the Military force here, under the 'Scout Corps'. Apparently they're the ones who go out on expeditions beyond the walls to see what they can uncover, slaying the Demons they find along the way. If I stand any chance of getting a message to you all, that's it._

_Sorry again, but… It's going to take some time. Three years of training. So much could happen to you all in that time and I wish every day that I could be there tackling it with the rest of you. Stay safe, guys._

_It looks like there's more wagons to carry so I'll have to leave this entry off here for now, but I promise I'll write more for you all when I find the time. I'm keeping myself busy! And don't worry, I'm training harder than ever._

_Until next time!'_

_-_

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Day thirteen._

_I think I've decided I don't like the food here very much. It could be just because I'm technically a refugee and the quality isn't great, but from what I see the Military people eating it's mostly the same. Broth, bread, and vegetables for nearly every meal. I haven't seen any meat at all, nor rice in all the time I've been here._

_It's hearty enough, and filling on a good day, but I miss udon. Ramen, pork, eggs… If you gave me a bowl of that right now I think I might cry!_

_Another thing I miss is-_

_Another-_

_I really want to see you all again soo-_

_Sorry. I'm talking about all that stuff to distract myself I think. I learned something today and it left me feeling rattled._

_I was helping a family move their belongings to a new camp when I happened to see a history book clattering around among the rest of their stuff. When they said they wished they could pay me something later, all I asked was to have a look through it and they actually just gave it to me, saying that since their children couldn't attend school anymore they didn't need it…_

_But anyway, there was a lot to learn in there when I finally had time to sit and read it. I might tell you about the other stuff sometime later because, really, it's fascinating!_

_The people here believe humanity outside the walls is completely dead._

_These Titan Demons appeared about one hundred and seven years ago and started completely destroying anything and everyone they came across, and apparently this one settlement decided to build massive walls. They succeeded, and all that time later… I guess it makes sense why they think there's nobody else out there. To them, it must seem like everybody else died._

_I know that's ridiculous because, well, the rest of us are living proof of that, but it'd do me no good to come out and say it. Why would anyone believe me, some random refugee who nobody even recognises from before the fall of Shiganshina? And what would it matter to them? In all that time, nobody has ever come to their aid._

_Which is weird, right? I'm not lying when I tell you the walls are huge; people should see them from days away. How has the Demon Slayer Corps never learned about this place? Surely at least our crows should be able to get close and carry messages._

_What I want to know is how these Demons are reproducing. Unless Muzan Kibutsuji is paying regular visits, it seems as if there must be a Titan Demon who can make more for its own purposes._

_I don't know. The truth Is, there's still far too much I don't know. I'll keep on scanning this book for clues but there's only so much I can get from it._

_In lighter news, this whole group of kids watched me carry some crates today. They weren't very heavy all truth be told, but they didn't know that. They looked at me like I was something really special. It reminded me of when we used to sit outside all bundled up for the cold to watch Father do his Hinokami dance, Nezuko. Before Takeo, Hanako, and Shigeru were born, and he got too sick for it._

_I really miss it._

_Which reminds me. Zenitsu, Inosuke… Maybe just Zenitsu. Can you ask Rengoku what the difference between Flame Breathing and Fire Breathing is, please? I had intended to ask him myself when we met with him for the mission, but… You know._

_Well, that's all from me today, everyone._

_Until next time!'_

_-_

Tanjiro chuckled privately, turning the next few pages together at once knowing that he mostly wrote about his deeds as a simple working hand and the people he met along the way while doing so.

He'd made some new friends; people appreciated the time he spent helping people, and it wasn't a surprise that he got to talking with some of them. Telling them anything revealing about his past was out of the question, but there were at least a few people now who knew about his brothers and sisters, and who he had eaten meals with.

Idly, he wondered if he really would be seeing Thomas enlist like he said he would once he drowned his nervousness in whatever flavourless soup they had been given that day. Not that Tanjiro would ever begrudge someone not wanting to put themselves in danger.

It was the responsibility of the strong to protect the weak until the weak grow strong themselves and can protect those weaker than them. That's what Tanjiro believed, anyway.

Pages flew past one another as he reminisced upon his memories with a fond smile, knowing that the time for this kind of peace was surely drawing to a close.

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Day twenty-three._

_The route I took to help out with the supplies took me right next to Wall Rose itself today. It was the first time I'd ever been up close to one of the walls, and it really does look like it touches the sky when you're standing at the bottom. Something felt strange, though. I think the Titan Demons must have been right up close to the wall on the other side, and a lot of them to boot. I can't imagine what else it could have been, but their scent was odd. Apart from the scent of wood, ash, lingering blood, and other debris, I couldn't smell them properly. It felt so familiar, but I just couldn't figure out what it was. I suppose the wall was thick enough to interfere with my senses. The only reason I knew they were Demons at all is because the scents were high off the ground and constantly moving._

_Have they developed a technique to mask their scents?_

_Saddest of all is that I couldn't pick up any emotions from them either. Not even hunger. Maybe it has something to do with becoming a 'Titan' class Demon but I'm afraid that the people these Demons used to be are completely lost in there, not even able to think for themselves._

_It's a question I'll have to leave for another time I guess. I'm sorry for boring you all! I promise I'll talk more about interesting things later._

_Until next time!'_

_-_

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Day forty-two,_

_I saw Rina again today. I think I've told you about her before, so you probably already know that it was awkward to say the least. We were busy, we didn't have enough time to say anything, but still. She seemed tired. I overheard one of her comrades saying that she'd been manning the supply line checkpoint all day._

_I'm not sure that's where I'd put her, knowing what I know._

_Until next time!'_

_-_

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Day sixty._

_I was in the middle of my sword drills when I finally got to see the Military with their weapons. It was only from a distance, and they never used them, but it was definitely interesting. They wore some strange belt with what I thought were large sheathes on both sides of their hips. Strangely, each sheath seemed to hold several blades all lacking hilts save for the uppermost ones._

_Seeing as each armed soldier I saw carried the same equipment, I assume that the standard practice of the Military is a dual wielding style._

_When I finally enlist, I'll be sure to take notes on any interesting techniques I see for Inosuke! But don't tell him that, please. He'll just freak out and tear the journal up if he thinks I'm trying to offer him help._

_Seeing as the people here are still alive after over a century fighting Demons like these Titans, they must be pretty impressive, though! I wonder if I could convince one of them to spar with me someday._

_Haha, I'll look into it I guess._

_Until next time!'_

_-_

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Day sixty-one._

_They looked at me like I was crazy. Then they started laughing as they walked away._

_I think that might have been a bad idea. But I also think I'm going to keep on trying, so I'll keep you posted._

_Until next time!'_

_-_

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Day sixty-five._

_Success! Sort of. One of the soldiers took me up on my request, but… Well…_

_I wasn't even making use of Total Concentration: Constant and my second swing cut right through her sword. I could see the_ _opening thread right from the start_ _sorry, I just realised I never told you about that. I'll explain when we see each other again. Promise._

_A lot of the soldiers looked very scarily at me after that. I think they would have forced me to pay for the broken sword if the woman it belonged to didn't start cackling. She said she'd never seen anything like that before, and she even wanted to take a closer look at my blade, but I had to say no. I felt kinda bad about it because denying her the chance made it look like I just kicked her puppy. She bounced back pretty quickly afterwards, although I definitely caught the scent of curiosity beyond that of a passing interest when we went our separate ways._

_She was a lot more intense than she was letting on._

_Perhaps I overdid it._

_Oh right, their swords are made very oddly by the way. They look almost like rectangles, but they still have a sharp point and a cutting edge. I'm just not sure what the advantage of the design is. They look more suited for cutting meat than combat. It seems as though they carry plenty of spares, however. Maybe they expect to lose a lot of them?_

_Up until now I've only ever seen soldiers with roses or horses in the emblems on their uniforms. The woman and the rest of her unit today had a pair of wings in theirs. I wonder what the significance is._

_A lot more people came to watch me train after that mess. It feels really strange._

_Until next time!'_

_-_

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Day two-hundred-and-six._

_I'm sorry I didn't write an entry for yesterday, Nezuko. It's my hope for that to be the only reason I ever have to skip a day._

_They came around to ask me yesterday, just like I told you I thought they might. Waited right by my training area. Apparently it was up to me whether I wanted to go or not. They said I was able bodied and just close enough to being of age to go and join the rest of the 250 thousand refugees going to attempt to re-take the land we lost. The soldiers told me that my skills would probably be invaluable. I thought I knew some of them well enough from my time tending to the supply line, but they stayed silent while they gave me the whole spiel._

_I could smell the deceit. I know they didn't care one way or the other whether I left or not. Not really, anyway. All they wanted was for as many people as possible to go to their deaths. You already know how bad the food crisis Is here, and I've been living with it, but I never thought it would go this far._

_I had every opportunity to go. Saying yes would have been so easy. I know I could probably save some of them if I went, but I didn't. I told them no._

_Some of the older folk saw me early in the morning today, packing their things to go. They looked at me._ _**Through** _ _me, some of them. A couple here and there carried the scent of hope but those people who stared at me, people I recognise, people I helped_ _**feed** _ _, people I've held friendly conversations with, who've thanked me time and time again for how much of a help I've been…_

_They knew I wasn't going with them. And they knew that meant they had no hope._

_I'm sorry Nezuko. I think your big brother might have done something awful._

_Please don't think any less of me._

_Until next time.'_

_-_

Tanjiro paused on that entry, staring with an unreadable expression at the messy curvature of the words, the little flecks of ink that showed just how rattled he had been that day.

Over a hundred days later and the wounds were still fresh for so many of those who remained. Relatives who had been too young to try and return with their families, or people afflicted with sickness that left them too weak to make the attempt.

In the end it wouldn't have mattered. Just over a hundred people survived that disaster. A hundred out of 250 thousand.

Precisely as the Central Government intended.

"Tanjiro! Hey, mister Tanjiro!"

He closed the journal with one hand and looked up to find the voice's source. A short distance away there was a group of kids, a mixture of boys and girls between about eight and twelve that made up the small handful of people that still came to visit him while he trained. Most other people had long dismissed the novelty and that was the way he liked it, but Tanjiro could never deny the soft spot he had for children.

A gentle chuckle escaped him as he made his way back onto his feet, lifting the box now full of what meagre belongings he had over his shoulder in the same motion. "Sorry everyone, no more practicing today."

But that was not the reason they came to him.

"Is it true that you're going to join the Military next week?!"

"Yeah, is it?"

"There's no way!"

"Mister Tanjiro's not mean enough to be a soldier! You can't leave!"

That one sparked some disagreement.

"No way, he's strong enough to do it!"

"He's gotta go and fight. That way he can get rid of all the Titans and I can go home!"

"You really think he can?"

"Of course! It's mister Tanjiro!"

The group of admirers had managed to get close by this point and he found himself trapped in place, able to do little but flush at their praise and wait patiently for a chance to slip a word in edgeways. One of the younger boys tugged at the sleeve of his haori, careful not to aggravate any of the five mysterious holes around the wrist into tearing any further. "What regi… um… Reg-i-ment…?" He trailed off hesitantly until Tanjiro gave him a supportive nod. Then, the child grinned wildly, happy to have pronounced a 'complicated word' correctly as he'd been trying so hard to do without school to guide him. "What regiment are you gonna join?"

"Well, obviously he's joining the Garrison!"

"That way he can stay near us!"

"But he's cool enough to join the Military Police, right?"

"Ew, no way!" One of the girls said, face twisted in a level of disgust shocking for someone so small. "The Military Police are evil!"

That last utterance brought silence to the cacophony. Tanjiro stepped forward and knelt down to the girl's level, affectionately ruffling her brown locks of hair with a faint, comforting smile.

He had been right there when members of the Military Police had tried to tear a ration of food from her grandfather's hands for themselves, citing his cowardice in not trying to re-take Wall Maria with 'the rest of the low-lives'. Perhaps fuelled by a guilty desire not to let anyone else suffer for that hellish expedition, Tanjiro had crossed the distance in an instant, where the rude officer howled in pain when his wrist was trapped in a quite literal crushing grip.

The déjà vu brought on by his quietly angered "Let him go or I'll break your wrist" had only hit him later, but it proved just as effective as the last time he'd made the threat. That being: completely ineffective until the soldier tried to call him on his bluff alongside another slew of derogatory language.

Tanjiro had been quite happy to let the officer's back-up knock him down if it meant their attention was no longer focused on the old man clutching his food in one hand and the hand of his granddaughter, hiding behind his legs throughout the whole thing, with the other. Since then, the little girl whose name he later learned was Felicia Langsberg had made it a point to adopt him as an 'honorary big brother'.

She had been quite confused when he had teared up slightly at that declaration, but he'd never done anything to deny it save appearing sheepish whenever she referred to him that way in public and he had to explain that they weren't actually related.

It was a common theme among this misfit group. Sadly, stepping in when the Military crossed the line against civilians was hardly a rare occurrence. The problems only exacerbated with the worst of the food crisis. As a disturbing result, this gathering had grown larger on a bi-weekly basis.

"There are good people in the Military Police, Felicia." He said, rising to his full height after she'd finally grown embarrassed enough to bat away his hand, "I know it can be hard to believe sometimes. No large group is ever _completely_ one thing or another. You always have to-"

"Judge people on what they do, not what they are." The little girl completed the saying with a distinct pout, "You say that all the time!"

"Because it's true." Although he tried to school his expression to one of patient neutrality the teasing hint that broke through the façade made her pout even harder.

"But none of them ever prove it!" Felicia crossed her arms over her chest with a triumphant grin when Tanjiro had to laugh and concede the point with an incline of his head. The moment didn't last long. Her tone changed to something softer, a tone far more vulnerable than any child her age should have to use. "Please don't join the Military Police. I don't want you to be near the bad people."

"That's okay, Felicia. I'm going to join the Survey Corps."

There was an expectation for the rest of the children to interject again but to his surprise none of them did, not even the girl right in front of him.

Tanjiro's face fell in confusion, glancing between each of the kids in turn. None gave him anything but a sombre expression.

An uncaring gust of wind sent a chill down his spine, haori fluttering in the out of place weather. A glance upwards revealed the sun disappearing behind a barrier of clouds. The breeze carried the combined scent of everyone's emotions to him, and not a single one was positive. So vast was the range, from fear, to disbelief, even to anger, that none knew what to say to express it all at once.

Only recently had they started to recover from a year of heartbreak, and now they had to face loss once again.

It wasn't fair – how could it ever be? – but Tanjiro had a goal that he had to reach no matter what. Nezuko was still a Demon, and Muzan Kibutsuji remained a force of malignant power in Japan. As long as those two facts stood unchanged, he couldn't rest. Everything he had done, everything he planned to do, it was all in service of those objectives.

But looking around him, and knowing how badly the people in the walls were suffering…

One of the smaller boys, the youngest of the group, looked as if he was willing himself not to cry and Tanjiro wanted so badly to reach out and say something yet stayed his hand for fear of breaking the fragile moment.

There really were no good choices.

"Can…" The eldest boy pauses once everyone looks his way, rearing back until he can clench his fists and be certain that he can force the inevitable quiver from his voice. "Can you play with us one last time before you go, Tanjiro?"

Tanjiro took one more look around the group that had been more than happy to adopt them into their little family by the virtue of simple displays of kindness that had been so sorely lacking in this world they lived in.

Preparations had to be made. He still had to go out and secure his enlistment, get measured for his uniform, know where to go in a week's time, make sure all his affairs are accounted for…

Yeah. He could manage that.

"Sure," He says, with a sad finality that surprises even him, "I'd love to. Shall we get going?" With that, he dusted himself down from the grit that had accumulated on his clothes as he rested and set off to indulge their childish whims while he was still able.

And so it came to pass that Tanjiro's last peaceful days within the walls came to a slow yet inevitable end.

* * *

"You are now officially members of the training unit no. 104!" The man with tanned skin and dark rings around his wrinkled eyes barked the words out to the men and women lined up before him, only a little taller than most of the people gathered there but with a presence that easily towered above them all. "Unfortunately for you, I, Keith Sadies, will be in charge!"

The sun bore down upon them with only the faintest of winds to be felt. Tendrils of dust rolled across the ground in tandem with the ebb and flow of the breeze, teasing at the fresh, polished surfaces of their boots. The very air they breathed was dry.

Yet they all stood in perfect silence, hands held behind their backs staring directly ahead, listening to an imposing man shout at them despite never once having met him before.

It was, in a word, alien to Tanjiro.

He had assumed that the manner in which the Demon Slayers trained their new recruits would be reflected here only to be proven wrong from the outset.

"I am not here to give you a warm welcome. All of you are now merely livestock, waiting to be eaten by the Titans." The instructor continued, speaking as if the words coming from his mouth were a simple fact of the world.

All around him he felt people tense, anger coiling like a snake through their bodies and suppressed only by the knowledge that to act on those emotions would invite punishment. Others reacted more subtly, meeting the accusation with grim determination. He recognised several faces from each group, if only vaguely. It was those who reacted with glib amusement that bothered him. Those were no different from the emotions he felt from the high and mighty Military Police, who would easily bring others pain if it meant their own benefit.

Some part of him, muted by a year of growing accustomed to this land, cried out that his hasty judgements were unjust. Everybody deserved a chance. He agreed with the notion, and he always would, but people weren't like Demons. They were not forced into their savagery, mind and soul held in the clasp of a beast who would sooner slaughter them all than let them speak his name.

They were here to learn and grow strong, though. Tanjiro would never let them hurt anybody. Not on his watch.

"You're even worse than livestock!" He could have sworn a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face, then. Wasn't that a little much? "For the next three years, I'll train you useless shits. I'll teach you how to fight the Titans! When you face a Titan in three years, will you still be just food?"

Tanjiro felt his opinions on the man turning. It was similar to how Giyu had first reprimanded him when he failed to protect Nezuko, or how Urokodaki would treat him harshly to show him the truth of his shortcomings before he could set about fixing them.

"Or will you become a glorious wall to protect these walls? Or a mighty champion of mankind who will destroy the Titans? The choice lies in your hands!"

It was an interesting speech, but he felt his attention drawn away by a particularly strong sense of rage emanating from a recruit closer to the front line. Tanjiro couldn't see his face, but he didn't need to in order to know that whatever anger the boy felt was likely reflected there. Only one possibility sprang to mind: the black-haired boy hailed from Shiganshina. That was the only explanation for that kind of all-encompassing hatred.

He couldn't say he blamed him.

The instructor, Keith, moved. A threatening step forward with his eyes locked on one individual in particular. A shorter boy with a mop of blonde hair and – oh, there was Thomas, stood just behind him. He'd have to say hello later – a nervous posture that only grew more pronounced when he was called out with a shout of "Hey, kid!"

"Sir!" The boy saluted.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Armin Arlert, from Shiganshina, sir!"

By now, the tanned man was stood right in front of the poor guy, towering a head above him. "That so?" He sneered, "A name fit for a retard! Your parents named you that?"

Against all odds, the boy wasn't cowed. "It was my grandfather, sir."

Instructor Sadies leaned forward, and that's when Tanjiro really felt the nerves in Armin go off. "Arlert, why are you here?"

"To contribute to humanity's victory, sir!"

"How very admirable! You should make first-rate Titan feed. Third squad!" Without a word of warning, Armin's head was clasped in the firm grim of their Instructor. "About face!" As the soldiers in question turned in unison, the man made his way to another unfortunate soul.

Tanjiro suppressed a wince.

"And who the hell are _you_?"

"Sir! I'm Thomas Wagner from Trost, sir!"

"I can't hear you!" He said, despite Thomas having raised his voice just fine.

"I'm Thomas Wagner-"

"I told you to speak up!" Sadies barked, cutting off yet another entirely reasonable attempt, "Go practice sounding off properly in the barracks!" Then he turned to a girl that Tanjiro only partially recognised, but who at least smelled familiar. "Next! Who are you?"

"Mina Carolina, from Trost, sir!" She said, eyes wide with multiple drops of sweat caking her face.

There was good reason for that to be so, when the scary looking man's stern gaze was only a few inches from it. "Wrong! You were born in a pigsty, inferior even to swine!"

Tanjiro couldn't get a bead on the man who was to be their teacher for the next few years. The words he spoke were harsh in vocabulary and harsher still in projection, but he could detect no animosity to speak of from him. Resignation, perhaps, and remorse certainly, but the man was lying through his teeth and knew so. Tough love wasn't a foreign concept to Tanjiro, but applied indiscriminately like this, it seemed wasteful.

Whether the girl agreed with that or not he couldn't know, but whatever the case she figured that quicker compliance would mean less attention directed at her. "Yes! I'm inferior to swine, sir!"

She was- "Wrong! I tell you what you are and what you aren't!" Though fortunately enough for her, the instructor saw fit to move on to another target. "Your name?" He demanded, and before this boy could even get past his first name he was met with hostility. "That's a dipshit name! Get lost! Why the hell are you even here?"

"To devote myself to the cause of mankind, sir!"

Instructor Sadies seemed unwilling to even dignify that as an answer, opting only to sneer and move on. "Fourth squad, about face!"

' _Oh!_ ' Thought Tanjiro, _'That's my squad.'_

Something in his dutiful turn must have been off, because suddenly he found his sight filled with the Instructor's scowling visage. "You! Who do you think you are?"

His fists clenched tighter behind his back. "Tanjiro Kamado, sir!"

It was the strangest thing. The man looked as if he had been ready to give him the same hell he'd provided to everyone else so far, but apparently his instructor was familiar with his name, because all Keith did was glare down at him.

Just like that, he detected the scent of remembrance swiftly followed by interest, and he carefully schooled his expression to not give his own curiosity away. Was his name circling around in the Military? It would make sense, he supposed. He spent much of the past year around members of the Garrison and Military Police, and plenty of them knew he trained with a sword in his spare time.

"Then you thought wrong! Right now, you're nothing. Less than nothing! Forget your place and I'll beat you down myself!" As it turned out, not even his name being known would prevent him standing on the receiving end of the same hazing as everybody else. In way, that was oddly comforting. Instructor Sadies was already moving before he finished speaking, glaring at the next boy in line. "And who the hell are _you_?"

"Jean Kirstein, from Trost, sir!"

"What are you here for?"

There was a notable pause, and then, "To join the Military Police Regiment and reside in the Inner District, sir."

Tanjiro knew he was breaking protocol by shifting his attention to the boy who had spoken, but in doing so he caught the eye of the vengeful black-haired boy he'd noticed earlier. Their gazes passed over each other quickly, but he caught the brief flicker of vindication in the boy's heart; he was glad that someone else had found the other boy's motivation unsatisfactory.

"I see." Instructor Sadies spoke, sounding almost polite for the first time since he had begun his tirade, "So you wanna live in the Inner District."

Jean seemed cautiously optimistic that he had yet to be shouted at, and gave a hearty "Yes, sir!" only to regret doing so dearly when, in an act that Tanjiro himself would have been proud of, he was promptly headbutted by the taller man and collapsed to the floor clutching his own skull.

"Who gave you permission to sit?! If you can't even handle _that_ , you'll never make it into the Military Police!" Once more, their instructor was moving without bothering to check on the boy he had likely traumatised. "And you? What did you come here for?"

"I'm Marco Bott, from Jinae in Wall Rose's Southern District, sir!" A freckled young man responded, "I came to join the Military Police and pledge myself to the King!"

"Is that so?" Nearly everybody waited with bated breath for the headbutt that never came. "Good man. A noble objective"

' _What?!_ ' Tanjiro could practically hear their collective thoughts, as his were running quite similarly.

"But remember…" Ah, there it was. "The King doesn't want you."

Despite not being especially vicious in nature, the words seemed to strike Marco, who looked down at the ground shortly afterwards.

The next few minutes continued in a similar pattern, and he could count on one hand the amount of people who were actually allowed to get more than one word of their name out before being ruthlessly interrupted.

By this point Tanjiro decided it was mostly safe to zone out. There were only so many ways he could watch people get humiliated before it grew tiresome.

One of many sweat droplets ran down the back of his neck to elicit an internal shudder. The clothes he wore felt unnatural to him. Where his homeland of Japan blended aesthetics with practicality in a harmonious duo, the land of the Walls felt like the scale was tilted entirely too heavily in the direction of the latter. A plain shirt underneath a jacket that failed even to reach his midriff was a style unfamiliar to him, and he felt out of place wearing it. The trousers felt too tight, the boots were too stiff and difficult to move in, and the entire ensemble was unsuited for this kind of climate.

He missed his Demon Slayer uniform, and his haori, but they were folded neatly and tucked away in his box for safekeeping while he was forced to wear the attire of the Military. Mentally, he'd always registered that he would have to wear something like this considering the amount of time he spent researching the customs and procedures of the life of a soldier, but it was another matter entirely to live the reality.

A matter of far greater contention was his sword. Come to think of it, that was probably the main contributing factor to his being recognised by Instructor Sadies.

In his defence, he hadn't _intended_ to make a scene, but the situation had escalated wildly when a few soldiers who didn't recognise him saw an unknown person start unsheathing a blade to prove that it was real.

The situation had almost boiled over to something dangerous when a member of the Survey Corps, identifiable via the wings on their emblems, had come forward to whisper something to the woman in charge of the enlistment booth. Just like that, he was allowed to bring it with him so long has he kept it wrapped in a bundle of cloth in its sheath and understood that they would be taking a zero-tolerance policy in terms of transgressions using it.

' _Hm. That's strange, I don't hear anyone getting chewed out. What's going o-'_

Tanjiro noticed that everything around him had gone deathly silent a fraction of a second too late, and damn near jumped out of his skin when instructor Sadies screamed bloody murder at a strange girl he just now saw was clutching a half-eaten potato.

* * *

"Hey, that potato girl's still running."

He looked up to see Connie leaning over the porch railing, nodding lazily off towards the tiny figure of someone sprinting in the distance.

After that incident had occurred, the initiation was brought to a close almost immediately; a fact that everyone appreciated greatly when it meant they could make their way under the shade of their lodgings and get out of their stuffy uniforms.

Tanjiro for his part was back in his normal clothes as fast as he could manage, and now found himself in the corner patiently scribbling another entry in his journal as the other five people outside the cabin entertained themselves by watching the eccentric girl from earlier run herself ragged.

"Wow… She's been at it for five hours now." The black-haired boy from earlier, now identified as Eren, muttered with some level of awe. Even if they thought the girl was a tad strange, that level of endurance was impressive. "Her reaction when he told her to run 'till she dropped was _nothing_ compared to when he told her she's not getting any food."

His pen came to a halt on a half-formed letter, contemplating.

Paradoxically, he found that the way the Military treated its new blood so far was both too harsh and shockingly lax. Though he admitted with a rueful chuckle that the only event he really had as a comparison was a group of new recruits to the Demon Slayers being shoved onto a mountain and forced to survive, which few of them did. Here, the policy seemed to ensure that those lagging behind received extra training, and those so far behind as to be declared unfit for the life of a soldier would simply be sent away.

Several wagons full of dropouts had left the site already, most of them carrying with them a great sense of shame.

Still, being punished was no reason to miss a meal. Master Urokodaki at his most stern remained understanding of the fact that you had to eat well to get the most out of training. If it really looked like the potato girl – Tanjiro regretted that he hadn't heard her name – truly was to go without dinner, he'd make sure to sneak her something later.

"That reminds me. We never heard where you two're from or anything." The feeling of eyes upon him brought Tanjiro back into the conversation.

"I'm from Shiganshina, same as him." Eren said, a hand on Armin's shoulders.

"Oh. Wait, does that mean you were there on _that day_ , too?" Connie barrelled onward with his insensitive questions despite the protests of Marco, "Did you see it? The Colossal Titan?!"

At that, Tanjiro let his pen lay on his lap, intensely curious about that himself. Eren wouldn't be the first person he'd met to have seen the terrifying Demon, but most of the others seemed completely unwilling to discuss that awful day any further. Whatever information he could get on the Demon would be a boon, but he didn't want the other boy to feel pressured into discussing it.

"As for me…" He got up from his spot in the corner, drawing their attentions to him as he rested his arm on the railing, "I was a pretty sheltered kid. Me and my sister Nezuko lived alone near the outskirts of Wall Maria." Despite the lie he was spinning, the tension in his grip then was by no means false. "She… I got separated from her during the fall of Shiganshina. I know she isn't dead though, she's way tougher than that. That's part of why I'm here." Tanjiro looked to the rest of them in turn, showing them that he was deadly serious. "I want to join the Survey Corps and go back to Shiganshina, go beyond the walls if necessary. I know I'll find her if I just keep looking."

They all had _that look_ on their faces. The one that said they thought he was foolish for holding onto that hope, but that none wanted to say as much to his face. Tanjiro sighed. "You don't have to believe me.

"I never knew you had a sister." Mina spoke up in a quiet voice, looking at him with surprise. Yet again Tanjiro was struck with the embarrassment that he knew he had seen her before without knowing exactly where. A fact that must have shown on his face when she elaborated further. "My family and I visited the refugee settlement a few months ago. We're mostly merchants by trade. I think I was sat on top of one of the carts while you carried another. I saw you training that day, too. The other people watching wouldn't tell me why you spent so long working only to work yourself to the bone in your free time, and then you were surrounded by too many kids for me to ask..." She finished on a fairly shy note, as if bemused that she had been turned away unknowingly by a group of children.

"Well… Now you know why I've been training so hard, I guess." Tanjiro laughed, a hand running idly by his face to brush a few waves of dark hair back over his ear. "Still, it's nice to meet you properly."

"Likewise!" She nodded, smiling.

"Wow, you've been training all this time?" Connie cringed, looking down at his hands and deciding that his head would be a good fit for the empty space there, "Oh man, I should've trained too! I'm gonna look like such a dunce…"

Tanjiro questioned why you wouldn't train if you intended on going through life in the Military. "I'm sure you'll be fine." He comforted regardless.

"Haaah…" The short haired boy slumped over the wooden beam, deflated. "We'll just see about that, won't we? But forget about that!" His quick recovery surprised everyone, nobody more-so than Eren, whose shoulders were now firmly in Connie's grasp. "Let's go grab something to eat, and _you_ can tell us all about what happened! Just wait till the others hear about this!"

Connie proceeded to lead Eren inside by the wrist, followed shortly by Armin. The remaining three people on the porch took one look between each other, shrugged, and made their way into the building as well.

* * *

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado: Volume 2, Day fifteen._

_Hey Nezuko!_

_Wow, it feels like it's been a really long time since I've had the time to sit down and enjoy enough time to write something to you all. Where do I even begin?_

_Living closely together with everybody like this means people get to know each other fast._ _**Tolerating** _ _each other is coming an awful lot slower, let alone liking one another. Not all personalities are made to mix together. I guess I was just lucky enough at home that Zenitsu and Inosuke weren't so hard to deal with. And that sure says something, doesn't it?_

_I met back up with Thomas, first. Thomas Wagner. I talked about him in my other journal somewhere at least. He's doing well! I'm surprised he ended up enlisting and apparently so was he. He's stronger than he gives himself credit for, I think. We spent some time catching up, and it turns out a certain someone has taken inspiration from me! He says he's been training himself in the evenings every other day after his errands are finished._

_His hair's a little shorter than it used to be. His lips are tightly sealed on the matter but judging from all the questions he used to ask about how I made my own hair behave, I think he might've thought he'd look good with longer hair too._

_What ar-_

_Sorry about that! Connie just bumped into my shoulder to ask what I'm doing._

_He's a nice guy, just a little… 'do first, ask questions only to escape consequences', you know? Haha, now he wants you to know that I'm a liar._

_Er… And now Jean's getting on his case._

_And Eren's getting on Jean's case in return… Oh dear._

_As you might be able to tell, things are a whole lot more chaotic here than I'm used to. Even the other two weren't this rowdy all the time._

_Well, anyway, while they're all distracting each other:_

_That guy I just mentioned, Eren. Eren Jaeger. He was in Shiganshina when it fell, and he had a near perfect view of when the Colossal Titan-Demon showed up. From what he says, it had barely any skin and an enormous mouth. It all looked like muscle fibre, like someone giant had been turned inside-out. Gruesome image, I know._

_I've had a few conversations with Eren since that time at dinner. He's driven. Incredibly so, actually. He reminds me of, well, me! Back when I was with Master Urokodaki, I mean. Whenever the subject of Titans come up, he gets this looks in his eye. I don't think the others have noticed yet just how much he hates these Demons. Not all of them, anyway._

_If you spend time with Eren, you inevitably have to spend time with Armin and Mikasa as well. They're practically inseparable; they do everything together. Eating, talking, training. They even get paired up together for exercises most of the time. It's nice to see that they have each other. They all went through the same thing, after all. I feel like an impostor, sometimes, pretending like I was there when Wall Maria was breached._

_Mikasa is… intense. Blunt, skilled, incredibly perceptive, willing to say exactly what's on her mind. She's kinda like if Giyu was a girl, come to think of it. Gah! Now that's something I really didn't want to think about! She seems as if her mission is to make sure Eren and Armin stay safe, and that's why she's gotten so strong. You might expect as much, but I relate to that. It's tough to hold a conversation with her one-on-one, but we've exchanged a few words here and there. I think we'll be able to work together if the situation calls for it. She's also wickedly talented with the 3-Dimensional Manoeuvre gear – I'll get to that._

_Speaking of inseparable trios, I've found a pretty consistent set of training partners in Annie, Bertholdt, and Reiner. They're all strong-willed people for sure, and they come from a pretty remote village. The former two are very stoic so it's hard to tell what they're thinking from time to time, but Reiner wears his heart on his sleeve. And, whoa, those are big sleeves. He's taller than pretty much everyone except Ymir!_

_But yeah, they're the ones who were the least confused by my night-time training. It helps that Reiner was the first one to discover me after sunset. I don't think the Bertholdt or Annie are the types to drag the other two into random things. They seem like good friends, though._

_Actually, something a little weird did happen that very first time. It might not have meant anything, but I can't stop thinking about what he asked me at the very end.'_

* * *

"What're you doing, Tanjiro?"

He turned on the bottom step with a length of cloth hung over his shoulder, tilting his head to one side. "Oh. Hello, Reiner." Tanjiro waved to the boy who stood at the doorway with his arms crossed and eyebrow quirked. The bundle he carried was lifted for emphasis, "It's been a while since I've gotten some of my own practice in, so I thought I'd take the time now that tomorrow's exercise has been postponed for a couple of extra hours. If you want to come with me, feel free."

Reiner nodded towards the object of interest. "What is that, even?"

"Well, if you feel like watching you can find out." Tanjiro said after a pause, in a surprisingly teasing mood.

A moment of silence passed between them until Reiner separated from the wall with a great shrug of his arms. Then, he cracked a wide grin. "Hell yeah, I'm down."

Shortly after that they found themselves in the wide-open stretch of land just outside the dustbowl where their cabins were. Although there were several guards posted in the watchtowers surrounding the area, it was easy to tell that most of them were asleep or not paying attention. Plus, it wasn't as if they were doing anything against the rules.

The intrigue that had been building in Reiner came to a head when they stopped, and he was mid-way to opening his mouth when he saw Tanjiro take the cloth from his back and let the white material fall to the floor.

Tanjiro heard the sharp intake of breath and the impressed whistle without turning around, opting instead to hold the sheathe out vertically and draw the sword upwards from it.

"Damn. So that's what Mina and Thomas meant when they said you hadn't trained in a while." Reiner realised, watching the Demon Slayer cut through the air several times in one of his simpler katas.

Tanjiro responded with a gentle hum of acknowledgement and spared a glance at the towers keeping an eye on them. He looked at the jet-black sword in his hands and then at Reiner. "Can you keep a secret?"

He didn't have time to unpack the _very_ complicated cocktail of emotions he sensed from the musclebound young man before they passed. "I reckon I stand a decent shot."

With that, Tanjiro turned back to face the empty air, holding his sword in a low stance. His chest rose and fell with a meaningful breath, and Reiner felt the very air around him go still.

The blade's tip dragged just above the grass, and one could have sworn that the sword took on a glowing hue in the moonlight when Tanjiro leapt gracefully forward. In doing so he swung the blade in a wide horizontal slash and reversed the direction without losing a fraction of momentum, slicing downward in the opposite way, only to bring the attack back upwards as he landed.

Tanjiro slid to a halt and exhaled, sheathing the blade in the next moment. The whole thing took place over the span of just one second and then the world started moving again.

Even Reiner, a complete novice when it came to swordsmanship could tell that what happened was no ordinary swing of a weapon. "What… What even was that? I barely saw you move." The blonde stood with his eyes wide, disbelieving.

"That," Tanjiro turned on his heel, hand on the pommel of his sword as he fixed his companion with a satisfied grin, "Was the fourth form of my swordsmanship, 'Striking Tide'. It's been even longer since I've been able to practice one of the proper forms. I might've gotten a little carried away. Like I said, can you please keep it a secret?"

There was something unplaceable in Reiner's expression, then. His voice dropped to a severe whisper. "I've been meaning to ask. Your name, your sword… Does the word Hizuru mean anything to you?" He asked, sounding deadly serious. Hearing a tone like that from the normally jubilant giant brought him up short.

"No, I… Don't think so. Is that important?"

Reiner shook his head, relaxing visibly to leave Tanjiro feeling as though he'd just missed something of great significance. "Never mind. You don't have to tell me. Your secrets are safe with me."

Failing to get any further information from his taciturn comrade, Tanjiro returned to his practice swings.

He didn't practice any of his forms in front of anyone after that.

* * *

' _I still don't really understand it myself. I think Hizuru might be a kind of swordsmanship, from what I assume, or maybe a person he knew. Can't say I've ever heard the term. Maybe I'll look it up if I ever get the chance to visit a library._

_Whatever the case, it was him that convinced his two friends to join me whenever I underwent the agility training I've been sorely missing over the last year. They seemed surprised at just how quickly I could go and how adept I was at avoiding the obstacles set up by the Military for training purposes._

_When you're used to knives flying at your face for putting a foot out of place, swinging wagon wheels and tripwires don't really seem so threatening._

_Now that they've gotten the basic physical checks out of the way they're finally letting us try out the 3D Manoeuvre Gear again tomorrow. Most people started to be able to balance themselves using it near the end of the aptitude test, but some of us are still struggling._

_The whole thing is really incredible though! I had always wondered how the Military was able to deal with Titan class Demons if they can't reach their weak spots._

_If the Demon Slayer Corps had access to this kind of equipment, I bet it'd give us a huge leg up._

_As long as the Mizunoto don't all get airsick…'_

* * *

Tanjiro stood within the odd contraption for a second time.

To his left, Mikasa rested in the suspended harness as if she were asleep with how easy it seemed for her. She had taken the using the equipment like a fish to water – no, it went beyond that. On her very first attempt she had wobbled just once and never again after that. Instructor Sadies had even instructed the two cadets minding the tripod contraption to start rotating her, shaking her back and forth to try and dislodge her from her comfort zone.

Mikasa hadn't even batted an eye. She'd been let down earlier than anyone else because, until the unit reached more advanced lessons with the gear, there was actually nothing to teach her.

He himself hadn't met with quite the same success, though as a point of pride he would say he wasn't lagging terribly far behind. The initial lifting was the part he struggled with the most. There is no real way to prepare yourself for losing the ground beneath your feet and being expected to continue fighting while doing so. It was fortunate, then, that this wasn't the first time he had been made to do so. More fortunate still that a core part of early Demon Slayer training involved learning how best to get up from a fall without injuring one's self.

Tanjiro hanged in place, eyes held steadily forward. From the corner of his periphery he saw Instructor Sadies nod to Jean, who was in control of his apparatus. He feels the machinery begin to shift around him, and his weight just begins to shift, when…

' _Now!'_ He thought.

In his mind's eye he heard the beat of a Tsuzumi drum echo through his senses. Just like back then in the Demon's mansion, the world shifted around Tanjiro to leave only himself as a point of reference for gravity. The bar above his head span and bucked back and forth between directions, dipping down on either side to disorient him as much as possible.

No matter how much Jean caused the device to work against him, he remained steady. There was no other option open to him. If he became dizzy, if he fell and isolated himself with the Demons, then it would be his own fault. If another person died because he had failed to master this advanced equipment, he would never forgive himself.

And so, he persevered. Each twist and turn correlated to its own drumbeat; every motion had to lead into the next. Like a bird in flight or the flowing of the tides, his was a dance that would spiral into eternity should it be allowed to do so.

As if sensing this success, Tanjiro was allowed to meet the floor again shortly after by a suitably impressed Instructor Sadies.

He unbuckled himself from the harness and leapt to the ground, where he was met with a smattering of applause and a chagrined frown courtesy of Jean, who had been quite clearly hoping to get back at him for all the times he had sided with Eren during one of their spats that had already become a regular sight among the 104th training unit.

* * *

Eren Jaeger intercepts him on his way to train in solitude, for once without the silent support of his adopted sister. "How do you do it?"

It isn't hard for Tanjiro to figure out what is being asked of him. Of all the trainees in the unit, Eren was the one who struggled the most with acclimating to the 3D Manoeuvre Gear, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. By all accounts, Eren put in just as much work as everyone else and then plenty more.

Tanjiro hadn't been the only one to sneak out for evening or night-time training for quite some time now. Catching glimpses of Armin and Mikasa doing their best to help Eren correct himself at the apparatus long after the exercises were over had become an increasingly common sight.

And it was all to no avail. No matter how much effort or will he put into staying upright, Eren was never able to stabilise himself and would invariably end up dangling helplessly upside-down.

"I don't know how to explain it to you." Tanjiro admitted, scratching the back of his head. That gesture had grown more common for him now that he was training so intensely with his hair as long as it was. Perhaps it was time to consider cutting it again. "Aren't Mikasa's pointers giving you any clue?"

When Eren scowled again, Tanjiro was struck once more by how intensely the other boy's emotions flared up. His blood ran hot and his temper hotter, ready at a hairpin trigger no matter the situation. It was so at odds with how fondly he treated those close to him that it always managed to catch him off guard. "They _should be_ , but they aren't. I'm following her advice the best I can, but it just doesn't work for me! I tried asking Jean, I tried asking Connie, they both just laughed in my face! Armin suggested we try asking Reiner and Bertholdt next, but when I saw you at practice today…" He shook his head. "It wasn't like watching Mikasa, or anyone else. She achieves perfection as easily as breathing. Things like that come so simply to her that I don't think she even understands it herself half the time. The others look like they're too busy concentrating to focus on anything else. It's just _different_ when you do it."

Tanjiro would have liked nothing more than the help his friend with his problem, but the truth was that he honestly didn't know where to begin. But there was at least one thing he knew how to do. One thing that had yet to fail him if he ever needed to grow stronger in some way.

Subtly letting go of Total Concentration: Constant so as to not overwhelm his friend, Tanjiro extended his hand. "Train with me?"

"Why? How will that help?"

"Does it have to?" Tanjiro shrugged good-naturedly, "I know my advice wouldn't be of any real use to you, and you've heard more than enough about the techniques themselves from Mikasa no doubt. It sounds like you need some way to vent more than anything. So, what do you say?"

Eren's confliction gave way.

That night, the both of them ran until their legs could no longer support them. It didn't matter that the Demon Slayer could go greater distances, not when Eren's sheer determination to succeed made up a great deal of the difference. Of course, that difference was paid for dearly once they stopped intermittently to rest, the orphaned boy panting to the stars with his heart threatening to beat out of his chest.

And then they would run again to repeat the process.

And when they couldn't run, they would talk until they could.

In the end, Tanjiro didn't give Eren even one single piece of advice about his work with the Manoeuvre Gear, nor did he provide any needless platitudes about trying his best or showing everyone that his hard work would pay off.

The next day, Eren took his place underneath the dreaded machine, harness fully secured.

Despite his place in the middle of the crowd, his friend's eyes met his. They shared a nod, and an encouraging smile on Tanjiro's part.

Cables lifted the boy from the ground.

Eren tilted forward, drawing so very close to a failure that would doom his chances of seeing through to the next day of training. At the edge of the dustbowl was a wagon just waiting for he and the rest of those who simply weren't good enough.

There was not a trace of fear to be found on Eren's face.

Staring their instructor dead in the eye, Eren Jaeger stood in the air for the first time. The crowd around them was silent.

And then, with a painful sounding crash, Eren met the dirt with the side of his head. Nobody dared to laugh as he righted himself.

"Wagner." Instructor Sadies intoned gravely; a voice full of resignation tinged with regret that Tanjiro could only recognise as he smelled it coming right from the man.

"Yes, sir?"

"Swap your equipment with Jaeger's."

A mechanical fault. This entire time, Eren's sole failure had not been his own.

It had been a very long time since Mikasa or Armin had seen him so genuinely happy, and for everyone else it was the very first time.

For some, it would also be the last.

* * *

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado: Volume 2, Day thirty-one._

_Today, we punched each other.'_

…

…

"…I think you're right, Reiner."

"Oh? What made you change your tune?"

"His martial arts. Those kind of moves aren't taught anywhere on Paradis. I checked."

"Sure you're not just annoyed he put your face in the dirt when nobody else could?"

"Eren put up a better fight than you. Do better."

"Way to hit where it hurts, Annie."

"You two." Both blondes stopped bickering instantly, all business now that the situation called for it. "Does this change anything?"

They glanced at each other.

"No. We'll go on as planned."

There were no denials, save for a tiny, seeded doubt in one of their minds that went unspoken for the time being.

It festered by the day.

-

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado: Volume 2, Day one-hundred-and-fifty-nine._

_I had my misgivings about fighting the Titan Demons, but it looks like it's not going to prove too much more difficult than fighting regular Demons._

_From what we learned in the classrooms, the vast majority of Titans are slow and dim-witted, their danger coming in raw strength, durability, and numbers. As long as one good hit to the nape of the neck is enough to bring them down, I shouldn't have any trouble._

_What does concern me is the swords they're making us use. Just like I was afraid of, their craftsmanship is awful. They give us so many spares because them breaking in battle is a foregone conclusion! I only used a pair of them on four different faux-Titan targets when they started to chip away. I bet mister Haganezuka would throw a fit if he could see how swords were treated here!_

_Materials must be scarce inside the walls. If they don't re-capture more land soon, will they eventually end up with no weapons at all?!_

_Oh yeah. Don't let Inosuke know I said this, but I can't get my head around fighting with two swords at once. I think I'll need to figure out some way of bringing my nichirin blade with me.'_

_-_

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado: Volume 4, Day eighty-five._

_My fingers finally unfroze enough to write this to you all._

_There is a Demon hiding among us._

_I think it might be an ally – like you, Nezuko – but I have no way of being sure._

_I told you last time that our next assignment would be a snowstorm expedition exercise, and they weren't lying about the name._

_We were split into two groups with freedom to move between as we saw fit and as our objectives took us._

_The weather reminded me of the mountains back home. You know, when the winter was at its most vicious, where you could barely open the door to the house because of how hard the wind was blowing. I remember holding your hand through one of those storms, while mother held my other one. Even at mid-day we could barely see, but we were tasked with making our way to the top of a mountain, raising two separate flags at different peaks, then traversing back down to the cabins we were staying at._

_The journey wasn't too difficult for me, then, but a lot of the others definitely struggled. Marco looked like he shouldn't have been able to move with the number of layers he bundled around himself by the end._

_It was Mina's stroke of genius that suggested we use some of our leftover campfire supplies to light a torch and use the tarps we carried around in a circular formation to keep the fire from going out. Whenever the winds died down we could rest briefly. Not perfect, but none of us lost any fingers or toes, so I think we can consider it a victory._

_When we got back, that's when we noticed something wrong. Ymir, Daz, and Christa were all missing. At first we suspected they broke off to go with Thomas' squad, but they were back already._

_The sun had set, and visibility was worse than ever. I waited on the porch for an hour and a half trying to pick up their scent, but no matter how hard I focused they were lost in the snow drifts. The storm had passed but it was still absolutely freezing out there._

_In the morning, I was right back outside trying to catch their scent and finally,_ _**finally** _ _I caught three trails on the clifftop. Very slowly moving, and still miles away from safety._

_Despite the storm long being over, I heard thunder in the distance._

_Then one of the scents changed. I still can't explain accurately how I perceive these things, but it was definitely like the Titan Demons I used to smell beyond the walls. Whatever it was, it carried one of the people down the clifftop so that the last one could make it down quickly._

_At least now I understand why I've always thought that Titans were a blank spot to my senses._

_When you smell something so often your nose starts to go blind to it, pushing it to the back of your mind so much that you don't even notice it. Titan-Demons carry the scent of humanity in a way that the Demons of our home don't. I can't make heads or tails of it._

_All three of them arrived at the lodge together._

_I'm not sure what to make of that, either. One of those three people, one of my_ _**comrades** _ _is secretly a Demon. They've been hidden in our group for so long and haven't caused any trouble, but the very idea is concerning. For someone to be able to change between Demon and Human so easily… It's all that I could ever have hoped to gain for you, Nezuko._

_Now that a chance like this is so close to me I should ask them each in turn, anything to get the secret!_

_But what if I learn that the price is something I could never pay?_

_Or worse, what if it isn't something that can be given to you at all?_

_It's been so long since I've seen you. I miss you so much, Nezuko. I hope you're okay._

_Cure or not, no matter what comes my way, I will find you again. I swear.'_

There, staring out from his lodge's window, Tanjiro watched the sun rise and set the snow alight in sparkles and dreamt of home.

* * *

_104th Training Unit Personnel Evaluations – Instructor Keith Sadies._

' _Annie Leonhart: While her fighting skills are outstanding, she doesn't work well as part of a team. A lone wolf. This makes it difficult to recommend a position among the Survey Corps should she show any desire for it, but she remains a valuable asset to any regiment should she temper her interpersonal skills. The only recruit that shows greater promise than her in close quarters combat is Kamado.  
\- Addendum: Suggested candidacy for the Anti-Personnel Control Squad.  
\- Addendum: Has shown strongest co-operation with recruits Hoover and Braun. Kamado is also known to spar with her under friendly terms.'_

_-_

' _Bertholdt Hoover: He is highly talented and possesses a great deal of combative tactical prowess. However, he lacks the initiative to make full use of his skills. As such, it is advisable that he is placed in squads with strong personalities at their heads that can guide him to his full potential.'_

_-_

' _Tanjiro Kamado: One of two unprecedentedly talented recruits. He displays unmatched dedication to improving himself despite having started at a level above most of the unit to begin with. His hand-to-hand skills are unparalleled, and he has been shown to carry himself with a remarkably level head in combat situations. Not only this, but he possesses strong bonds with his comrades. He has expressed interest in modifying his standard equipment to include a sword that he has always carried with him once he proved exponentially more skilled with it than even his 3-Dimensional Manoeuvre Gear's blades.  
\- Addendum: See Incident Reports under Kamado, Tanjiro, A-through-D.  
\- Addendum: Recruit's request granted.  
\- Addendum: Upon request of Survey Corps squad leader Hange Zoe, the sword was taken for examination and found to be an example of blacksmithing so fine that the weapon's source is a complete mystery to us. Further requests for study pending.'_

_-_

' _Jean Kirstein: His 3-Dimensional Manoeuvre skills are the third best in his class, but his personality is suited to causing great friction towards those who disagree with him. Shows a respectable level of tactical thinking. While currently unskilled in close quarters combat, has recently shown interest in improving that aspect of his performance. In doing so, he has displayed an ability to swallow his pride and request assistance from Kamado and Leonhart, the former of which agreed.  
\- Addendum: The latter was reprimanded for her response.'_

_-_

' _Mina Carolina: Average in most respects but continues to show one of the most consistent levels of camaraderie in the unit. Even troublesome individuals in that regard such as Leonhart are not unwilling to work with her. Attendance to Kamado's unofficial evening training sessions have provided her impressive growth in physical capabilities, though her combat instincts remain lacking.'_

_-_

_Top 10 trainees by score from the 104_ _th_ _training class:_

_10\. Mina Carolina_

_9\. Sasha Braus_

_8\. Marco Bodt_

_7\. Jean Kirstein_

_6\. Eren Yaeger_

_5\. Annie Leonhart_

_4\. Bertholdt Hoover_

_3\. Reiner Braun_

_2\. Mikasa Ackermann_

_1\. Tanjiro Kamado_

* * *

Three years.

Three years of sweat and tears had brought them to this moment.

Camaraderie born from countless hours spent working towards one singular goal with one another, each person striving to be the best soldier they could possibly be.

Most of them couldn't imagine having spent all that time with anyone else.

The world would watch with bated breath to know just how this batch of recruits would change the world.

"Hey, Mina, could you pass the the wipes?"

"Huh? Oh, sure!"

"Thank you!"

Tanjiro shifted on his knees to brush the dust off of the cannon's stand, grinning in satisfaction when the musty surface gave way to a polished brown sheen.

For now, though, cleaning cannons had never felt so fulfilling.

It was simple work, not requiring much in the way of skill at all but standing at the very top of Trost's wall in full gear just reinforced the notion that they had all secretly been harbouring as their time as mere trainees came to an end.

In short order, they would join the ranks of the true protectors of humanity within the Walls. This was only the beginning.

Whiling away the hours of the day with honest work under the sun's insistent warmth? Tanjiro could honestly say he'd missed it. Those halcyon days entertaining kids and moving wagons full of supplies felt so far in the past, yet he didn't feel has if he had personally changed all that much since then. Stronger in many ways, and plenty more experienced, but still the same old him.

He knew, because it was impossible for him to forget the vow he had made that fateful day in Tokyo, watching the source of all his pain walk away from him as if he were less than dirt.

' _Muzan Kibutsuji! No matter where you go, I promise you won't escape me! You can run as far as you want! I'll follow you to the ends of Hell, and my sword will be the last thing you see! I'll never forgive you for what you've done!"_

All this time later and it was incredible how the mere thought of that Demon could drive him to such heights of anger. Never had he felt this way about any other creature. Not Kyogai, not the Hand Demon… Not even Rui, who'd tried to take his sister from him, could invoke this kind of emotion.

"-iro…? Tanjiro, are you okay?"

He blinked, turning his head to see that multiple sets of eyes were upon him. Then he looked back and saw that he was clenching one of the cleaning rods so viciously in his hands that it was shaking.

Truth be told, thoughts had long plagued him that he was being too slow. Four years had passed since his disappearance from the others. In a profession where people could fall to the Demons every single day, having been separated from his friends for so long made it impossible to guess how they were doing, or if they were even still looking for him.

Had Inosuke left Zenitsu in order to find his own way to grow stronger? Was Nezuko still with Zenitsu, or was she back under the care of Master Urokodaki, or Giyu? That last option seemed unfeasible, but maybe the Butterfly Mansion had taken her in? She would have fun there, he was sure. Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho would be quick to adopt her into their little circle of friends. At least that was what he hoped.

It didn't matter where they were, just so long as they were in a state for Tanjiro to find at all when he returned.

"Oh! Right. I'm really sorry, I just got a little distracted."

Connie laughed incredulously, making a vague gesture at the rod that now actually had visible indents in the handle. "I'll say! Was hearing about Thomas really that surprising?"

"Hm? Is that right?" Tanjiro glanced over to the young blonde in question, then shared a conspiratorial chuckle. "I guess Eren's speech helped you out after all!"

"H-Hey! Come on, you too?" Thomas groaned as a certain black-haired boy palmed his face in the background. It was true, then. Eren really didn't know how passionate of an orator he was.

Tanjiro made sure to hide his relief by turning back to place the last few finishing touches on the cannon he had been assigned to clean. He'd known Thomas for quite some time now, and his fear of the Titans was well known to him. It was heartening to see that he would swallow his fear to do what he needed to do after all this time spent in doubt.

A stray aroma drifted past his nose and lured his attention towards Sasha, who was hunched over and making her way towards them.

Was that…?

No, it couldn't be.

"Um, guys…" Praise whatever being had just laid its blessings upon him, it _was_. "I borrowed some meat from the officers' morning rations."

"Sasha! Are you looking to get put in solitary confinement?!"

"You're a real idiot!"

"Real idiocy's scary…" Connie muttered.

"Let's all split it up together later…! We'll cut it up and eat it with bread!" Sasha made a disturbing noise at her own mental imagery, but Tanjiro couldn't bring himself to care.

Four years without proper meat had really taken its toll on him. It didn't come close to the food from Japan his taste buds truly yearned for, but just laying eyes on the prize that Sasha had brought with her was breaking down a lot of walls he'd built up over the years.

He wasn't salivating. He would take that notion to the grave.

Everyone else remained hesitant. If the onus was upon him, then so be it.

"I'll take some!" He called, raising his hand and surprising every single person nearby save for his saviour. Obeying the rules whether under observation or not was a key skill they were forced to learn during their time as trainees, and Tanjiro had been one of its greater champions along the way. Truth be told, a part of him felt as he did now alongside a muted spark of cynicism. ' _So, the officers have had good food this whole time.'_

"…Well, If Tanjiro says it's okay, then…!"

"Hey Sasha! You better save some for me!"

"Me too, save me a part as well!"

One by one the offer was taken up, even Eren was forced to accept the gift with a wry smirk tugging at the corner of his lip. Tanjiro found himself sharing that sentiment, watching as everybody went back to work as if nothing at all had happened. Their little coup would be all for naught if one of their superiors reported them for shirking their duties.

Satisfied that his own task stood complete, Tanjiro swung himself around to sit facing away from the town below, gazing out into the distance. Birdsong had been such a faint memory for him as animals preferred to thrive beyond the captivity of the walls, but if he strained his ears from his perch he could just about hear the trilling of sparrows wheeling through the air in the skies ahead.

A deep exhale passed through his nose as strands of long, dark red hair swayed in the pleasant afternoon winds.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Eren and Tanjiro shared similar thoughts in that moment, though their attentions faced opposite directions. One faced inward, assured in the knowledge that humanity's new strength would bring down the walls around them and set everybody free. The other gazed to the horizon, a goal so plainly in view yet so far out of reach, determined to find his way to the land and people that surely awaited him.

' _Our counterattack begins now_.'

But life can change suddenly like the weather. It shifts and moves by its own whims unto eternity, caring not for those it nurtures. No one thing lasts forever. On that day, Tanjiro was given a grim reminder

Whenever happiness moves on, there is always the scent of blood.

With a peal of thunder and surging, blinding light, hell descended upon them all.

Thunder.

 _Thunder_.

Amidst the chaos of silence, there were two emotions that prevailed. Fear: frigid, icy tendrils of fear that kept you held frozen in place. In two more exceptional cases, it was anger.

That single feeling churned throughout Eren; an all-encompassing rage that the same monster who'd brought so much suffering was before him yet again, primed to repeat the events of four years ago and usher ruination anew.

For Tanjiro, scrambling his way to a standing position, it was a simmering fury directed inwards. Years ago, he had heard tell of how the Colossal Titan Demon had appeared from nowhere and vanished into the same. Only now, after all this time, did he really understand what that meant.

Memories of a land laid silent after snowfall, staring out into the darkness in hopes of detecting his comrades' arrival home, only to learn an insidious truth heralded by a distant roar of thunder.

This was no Demon lost to instinct, something to be pitied. No, this was something altogether more despicable. He still didn't know which of the lost trio from the snowstorm exercise was the hidden Demon, but whoever it was clearly retained control over their own minds and hadn't had to feast on blood to survive.

The Colossal Titan was rational. The Colossal Titan was intelligent.

_The Colossal Titan wanted humanity within the walls to die._

And Tanjiro, giddy and worried in equal measure at the idea of other Demons on the side of humanity, had ignored the possibility in front of him. Not all Demons were bad. Simultaneously, not all intelligent Demons were good.

A strangled gasp broke the silence first.

Then the very air itself seemed to detonate in a burst of intense steam, throwing Tanjiro and his allies from the wall.

Spiralling through the sky and plummeting to the district below, survival instincts kicked in. Cables launched upwards to hook their users to the surface of the wall. Their boots scraped against stone as the majority of them slid to a halt, only Samuel's gear failing him in his unconsciousness.

It tore at Tanjiro's instincts not to detach to save one of his friends, but Sasha was already in the process of doing so by the time he realised what was going on.

"The gate's broken! Again… The Titans will get in again!"

He didn't know who had spoken, but his teeth grit so firmly together it felt as though they would shatter. Without a moment's pause, the Demon Slayer drew his standard issue blades and began to sprint up the wall, a burst of gas hastening his ascent. Unbidden, splashes of water could faintly be seen around his feet as he slipped into the graceful motions of the Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow.

' _Minimize the landing time and the surface area of landing.'_ He recalled from the core of his being and, like a skipping stone upon water, seemed to fly up along the wall until he reached the top within moments. _'Don't slow down. Don't you ever slow down! For everyone that's ever suffered at the hand of these Demons! For everyone in the future that this Demon would bring suffering upon!'_

His actions inspired those behind him. He could just barely make out Eren shouting orders below as he emerged over the side with a forward flip to land directly before the giant Demon. It peered down at him with comparatively tiny black pupils, expression unchanging. Whatever happened now, its job was done. The gate was broken, just like before.

Fingers clenched around the handles of a pair of swords.

"I don't care who you are." Tanjiro hissed, and at that very instant he could swear the giant reared back just the faintest amount, "I have never felt such animosity towards a living being before. And it's directed at you. This kind of anger… No matter the circumstances, I can never, _ever_ forgive someone who would choose to kill innocent people!" He noticed the moment the Titan changed his flinch into an attack and brought himself into a low crouch, waiting without any fear as a monstrous arm came in from the side to sweep across the wall and take him out.

Just as it would have swatted him down as easily as an insect, he leapt and fired a hook downwards to cancel his upward momentum and land upon the mass of sinew and muscle. Without a moment's pause he was sprinting along the gigantic limb, in the heat of the moment noting that the cannons had all been wiped out in a single attack, and the Demon's eyes were tracking him all the while.

Whoever this really was, they knew what they were doing.

He felt the surface shift beneath him and immediately he jumped off to the side, spinning in the air until he faced the monster's back, where he fired both hooks between its shoulder-blades. The arm that now hung in the air was brought around as the Colossal Titan twisted around in an attempt to swat him out of the air, but Tanjiro was already swinging, pushing the gas propulsion to its limits and only narrowly avoiding the swing. Even then, the displaced air threatened to send him careening off course until he brought one of his blades forward and dug it into the tough flesh as he went.

It cracked and crumbled quickly, but it did its job. At the apex of the Titan's motion, it was vulnerable; its stance was off.

Angling himself slightly away from its back, Tanjiro kicked off of its elbow and faced its neck. Two cables jetted through the air, embedded either side of his target. With the flick of a switch, gas erupted from the device at his back.

In that instant, a shimmering thread coalesced in the air before him, coiling for a moment before pulling itself taut. As it approached Tanjiro it split off into two, connecting each of his swords to their intended destination.

' _The opening thread!'_

Despite already channelling Total Concentration: Constant, he took a deep breath that renewed his energy from top to bottom, soaring through the sky towards the would-be destruction of mankind.

"Total Concentration…"

He gripped his swords and began to turn his body over and over again like a corkscrew.

"Water Breathing, Sixth Form: Improved…!"

Wind whipped around him, stinging his eyes when they refused to close, laser-focused on the task at hand. Tides of water wreathed his dual blades, near the point of breaking as they were.

"Surging Whirlpool!"

One of the only techniques in his arsenal that could be performed without proper footholds, made ever the more potent with the assistance of the 3-Dimensional Manoeuvre Gear; gas increasing the rotation of his body while thrusting his whole being forward at the same time.

At that crucial moment, his vision was filled with a plume of scalding steam. The cables shuddered and shook, heat ripping across his skin, yet Tanjiro remained undeterred. This pain was nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands that had suffered at this Demon's hands.

With a great yell of exertion, Tanjiro pierced through the haze as a magnificent bullet and tore through the surface of the Titan's neck right as its entire being seemed to disappear.

He was left hanging in open air with his eyes wide and mouth agape, no Demon to be found.

It was with anticlimactic silence that he tumbled head over heel towards the ground. Even as he righted himself and shot towards the Wall with his gear, his mind was running at full speed.

' _If the Titan was a person, then it isn't really gone. It must have changed back in order to escape! That means the Demon has to be nearby! But… I was fast enough to injure it. If I'm quick, I can track it down.'_ Tanjiro braced himself against the wall, searching the grassland below for any sign of life. There was a lingering scent in the air, one separated from the usual scent that Titans carried. It felt disturbingly familiar.

"Tanjiro! Tanjiro, you got it!" He glanced up to see Thomas and Mina peering over the wall, grinning widely in spite of the situation.

"No," Tanjiro shook his head, lips pulled into a thin line, "I definitely hit it, but it's still alive. It just… Disappeared."

Thomas bit back a curse as he ushered for his friend to return to the top of the wall. "Damn. But the Garrison's here now. The contingency plans have been activated; we're returning to HQ!"

What? But… He had to stay; he was so close!

Then again…

Tanjiro looked down at the empty hilts in his hands, finding no spares in the sheathes at his hips. He didn't have his nichirin sword with him, either. While he was allowed to carry it, this was supposed to be a routine task without any threat of Titans. It was resting with the rest of his belongings in a locker at HQ.

' _Stupid!'_ He berated himself, ' _A Demon Slayer has to be prepared at any time. I can't fight the Colossal Titan again like this.'_

Sparing one last disparaging look at the world below, he made his way back up the wall, no less determined to see this battle through to the end.

…

Tucked away just inside the breach in the gate, unknown to all, a tall boy nursed a thin cut on the back of his neck. Gasps tore themselves from his lungs. All of the training, all of the conditioning for combat, and in the very moment where Tanjiro had torn his way through the cloud of steam…

Bertholdt had feared for his life.

* * *

"Garrison intercept forces will form the vanguard! Trainees, led by the supply team, will comprise the middle guard! The Garrison's elite forces will form the rear guard! The outer gate has been compromised, and messengers report that the advance force has been neutralised! At any moment, the Armoured Titan may appear to breach the Inner Gate, just as before! As we speak, the vanguard is engaging the Titan force!"

Tanjiro closed his eyes, expression dark. ' _I could have prevented this. None of this would have happened if I acted faster when the Colossal Titan appeared. And then I let it get away._ ' He looked up to find a couple of the other trainees shooting him concerned glances. ' _For the sake of everyone else here, I can't fail again.'_

A way's off he could hear Eren and Jean in another one of their spats and for the first time he found himself angry at the pair. How could they argue, even now? Weren't there more important things to deal with?

Whatever was being said, Eren appeared to win the argument in short order.

Someone's hand fell on his shoulder. "Trainee Kamado, and Trainee Ackermann." A man's voice called, first to him and then to Mikasa, who had gone to Eren after the heated words from before. "You're both being specially moved to the rear guard. Follow m-"

"But I'll slow them down!" Mikasa spoke as a gasp, perhaps the most panicked Tanjiro had ever heard her. He understood. Being separated from her brother in a time like this… He knew full well that wasn't an easy thing to do. But Eren was strong, stronger than a lot of people gave him credit for. He would survive.

The officer clearly agreed. "I'm not asking your opinion. The evacuation is slowing to a crawl, and we need as many skilled soldiers overseeing the civilians as possible."

The girl looked ready to protest again when Eren interrupted her. "Enough, Mikasa. Don't you freak out too! What you or I want doesn't matter right now. You and Tanjiro will get the job done quickly, and you'll come back to us, right?"

Mikasa barely seemed comforted, but she nodded despite the downcast look on her face. "Just… Just don't die. Please."

There was a moment. Something changed in Eren's expression, something softer. "I won't."

With that, the group separated. Eren moved with the rest of the trainees, and Tanjiro followed Mikasa and the officer in a different direction, only a single sword sheathed at his side.

Everything would turn out okay. It had to.

* * *

"Thomas, look out! An aberrant! Thomas!"

"Wha- No! NO!"

A voice. Hers. "THOMAS!"

"Mina, stop!"

The girl flew through the air before even she could guess what she was doing. All that time spent with Tanjiro, listening to his fond tales of his sister, the friends that he'd left behind when the wall fell. Hearing of the things he would do just for the chance to see them all again. Somewhere along the line, it had inspired her, and he'd encouraged that. Nurtured her growth through countless hours of training.

Now, even if it were embarrassing every time, she could at least say for sure she was stronger than she was before.

Of course, spending time with the best trainee in their class meant spending time with Thomas, too. They hadn't meshed well at first. Their combined shyness in the face of the unknown made it difficult to break each other out of their respective shells. They both had a tendency to trip over each other in their attempts to look good in front of Tanjiro.

Eventually, that competitiveness had bloomed into a friendly rivalry. If Tanjiro's knowing but pleasant smile was anything to go by, he had been happy with the development. Only after the fact did they realise that having two of his friends stepping on each other's toes must have been awkward for the poor guy.

They made games out of most of their training exercises.

They shouted at each other. Laughed with each other. Joked, teased, trained with one another.

She couldn't ever place her finger on where exactly it happened, but somewhere along the way, her feelings had changed. There was simply never the time to tell Thomas that.

And now…

Now he was in a Titan's mouth, hanging upside-down with a shellshocked look in his eyes.

She wasn't strong. She didn't even know how she made it to the top ten on the scoreboards. But…

As she let out a terrible scream of sorrow and pain, watching her swords cleave through the neck of the abnormal Titan, seeing Thomas fall to the floor injured but still breathing, she mused in the back of her mind that maybe, just maybe… she was strong enough for now.

* * *

The Titan was on course for the evacuation gate, and Mikasa wasn't sure they would be able to make it time.

It was abnormal in behaviour, sprinting with gangly limbs flailing everywhere towards its prey.

"Damn, why is it ignoring us?!"

"It's an aberrant, don't think about it! Just go!"

"Even us elites can't catch up to it! At this rate…"

Really? These people were elites?

She'd admit, she was disappointed. A chance to compare herself to the best that the Garrison had to offer was a welcome opportunity. Only to find that most of them were pompous, self-assured fools.

Mikasa readied herself to engage when out of the corner of her eye she spotted a certain boy land on the rooftop to the side. _'What's he doing…?'_

Then, like nothing she'd ever seen before, Tanjiro moved. It was like the tiles, the uneven rooftops and all the gaps between them didn't matter. Somehow he was moving even faster than the soldiers flying through the air, propelling himself with gas while _running_. She could have sworn that splashes of water accompanied his footfalls.

It was completely impossible in every way. By all accounts, Tanjiro should have caught himself on something and fell for attempting such a stunt.

Tanjiro was a complete blur, leaps growing in stride as he closed the distance in a short few moments. From a distance Mikasa saw a hook fire across the street to dig into a building a few seconds from where the sprinting Titan would be.

"Total Concentration… Water Breathing, Form Combination… Flowing Water Wheel!"

Although the words he spoke sounded like nonsense to her, there was no denying his actions shortly after. He launched himself from the roof and span in a somersault turned on its side, momentum increased further by his strange movements from before and the gas spraying from his back.

A pure black sword cleaved through flesh as though it were air.

It wasn't just the nape he cut. The aberrant Titan's head fell clean from its body, tumbling across the ground and coming to a stop somewhere to the right of the rest of the corpse.

Mikasa met up with Tanjiro right as he detached from the abandoned house and landed beside the Titan, the both of them staring in silent awe at the sight before them.

A carriage was wedged firmly in the doorway, completely blocking the route needed for evacuation. What had to be well over a hundred civilians was now trapped on this side of the wall because of it, and the man in the middle of the crowd didn't seem intent on moving out of the way.

"Hey you! Perfect timing. Make these people help me out!" Rather, he seemed set on proving his own greed even further. "I'll reward you handsomely!"

Tanjiro seemed taken aback, but Mikasa had words for this. "My comrades are dying right now." She spoke, voice light as if separated from the situation at hand. Both she and her companion knew that it was only so because to dwell on what was happening would be for her to snap entirely. "Because the evacuation is lagging, they're fighting off the Titans and dying for it." The girl hated the quiver she detected in her voice.

"Of course they are!" Both soldiers froze entirely, "It's your duty to offer your lives in order to protect citizens and their property, isn't it?!" To everyone's dismay, the obnoxious man found the gall to sound indignant about this. "Don't get full of yourselves just because you freeloaders are finally doing your job after a hundred years!"

Ears ringing, Mikasa stepped forward. Tanjiro went to put his hand in front of her, hold her back, but she batted it away almost instantly. Oh, she was sure he felt the same peerless rage that she did at what was going on, but whatever his reasons for stopping her, she couldn't allow it.

It was only when she spared a withering glance towards the boy that she paused.

His eyes were wide, focused off to a point in the group of people, the tips of his fingers trembling. His jaw hung agape, and he appeared to step forward unconsciously.

The crowd parted before him, and the haggard old man at the edge failed to notice Tanjiro's approach until his hand rested on his shoulder. The man seemed angered for just a moment before realisation set in. "Wait, you're…!"

In the elder's arms was a little girl with messy brunette hair, a set of wounds on her leg still steadily seeping with blood. Her eyes were closed while she whimpered quietly but being jostled brought them to open blearily, only for the weariness to pass immediately once she saw his face. "T-Tanjiro…? Is it… is it really you…?"

The boy in question swallowed a gulp and forced himself to smile. "Hey Felicia. It's been a little while, hasn't it?"

Unheeding of her injuries, the young girl straightened up in her grandfather's arms. "Oh my gosh, it is you! Are you here to save me and grandpa again?"

A murmur ran through the audience, Tanjiro's name a constant presence on their lips. Apparently more than a few of the people around here knew of him now that they'd had a good look at his face.

Tanjiro forestalled her question with a placating wave of his hand, ruffling her hair like he had used to do three years ago. "How did you get hurt, Felicia? You're being pretty brave right now, you know!"

The giggle he got in response was muted and sleepy, yet her answer was anything but. "I got pushed out of the way when the big cart came past."

"Really now?" He said, sounding genial enough. Those more attentive could tell by the tightness in his posture or the way his fingers twitched as if they wanted to curl into a fist that he was not taking the information at all lightly.

"Mmhm. But I'm okay. You're going to come and spend time with us after this is all over, right Tanjiro?"

"Yeah. I promise. Invite all the others, too. It's been a while since I've played with any of you."

"Okay. You… better…" She yawned, nestling more comfortably into her grandfather's chest. "You better not be lying…"

With that, the girl fell asleep again.

Tanjiro stood there, looking between the loaded wagon and the rest of the people nearby. Then he looked pointedly at the bald man from before. "Why aren't you letting the people go through?" His tone brooked no argument and judging by the shudder that went through the target of his ire's face, he wasn't going to receive one.

"It… It doesn't matter how many people get through if we can't feed all of them! What happened last time will just happen again, but worse in every regard! Even more people to feed with even fewer supplies! That's why my wagon has to go through first. Each of those crates will hold off the food shortage! It's not my fault this gate was built too small!"

With a start, Tanjiro realised that the man was right. He had been right there during the food crisis, and none of the wagons had contained even a third of this inventory. Even if he saved every last person left in Trost, it wouldn't mean a thing if they were sent off to die just like the two-hundred-and-fifty thousand from last time.

The people had to be saved.

The wagon had to go through.

Both situations had to be made true or else he would never be able to forgive himself.

He examined the wagon with a more critical eye, breathing steadily in and out. His shoulders fell on the last exhale, and without a word he stepped towards it. It was only when he placed both hands on the back of the cart that someone spoke up. "What… are you doing?"

Strength flooded his veins when his shoulders next fell with exhalation, and to answer all doubts, Tanjiro _pushed_. His boots slid against the floor and all he did was brace them again and continue trying.

Mikasa was about to pull him away and deal with the situation herself when a painful scraping noise filled the air.

The wheels turned, and the wagon moved. Bit by bit, little by little. She looked to Tanjiro's face and rather than strain, all she saw was focus.

Of course, the problem was not in weight but in leverage. Even four years ago Tanjiro had been able to lift boulders on pulley systems with his bare hands, and he'd only honed his strength further since then.

"Help him." A female voice called out, and it took several seconds before Mikasa realised that it was hers. "Help him push the cart through!" She called again, more fervently this time as she sheathed her own weapons and ran forward to join in the effort. What was happening before her should have been impossible yet again.

' _Maybe…'_ She mused as eventually a slew of civilians braved their fear and threw their own shoulders into pushing the cart too, ' _Maybe Tanjiro is just the kind of person to make the impossible possible.'_

Several minutes later and the weight gave way, all the people involved nearly falling forwards when they suddenly had nothing to brace against. When they looked up to see the cart through the passage and the entrance clear from everybody else, a chorus of cheers rang out.

"He actually did it." One of the Garrison soldiers spoke in awe, "Holy shit. Just what kind of monsters are there in that class of trainees?"

"You, boy!" A stern voice cut through the celebration, and all faces turned to see the irritating man marching forward yet again, this time with his hand outstretched looking especially pleased. "You saved my merchandise. I guess you soldiers are good for something after all, aren't you?"

Tanjiro took the man's hand and shook it, eliciting a smirk from the unpleasant gentleman.

A slight tightening of his grip was the only warning that was given before the Demon Slayer headbutted the merchant, nowhere near as hard as he was able but more than enough to knock the other man flat on his backside in pain. "Argh! You little-"

"Next time you think about injuring innocent children, I won't be so ready to forgive you." Tanjiro spoke coldly, no longer bothering to give the man any more of his time. He turned to one of their superior officers, brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes. "Where do we need to go next?"

He received several incredulous looks, but eventually the gravity of their situation kicked back in and the soldier shook his head. "The evacuation is pretty much taken care of thanks to your little stunt. Go and re-group with the rest of the trainees in the middle guard. They'll have a better picture of the situation."

Tanjiro saluted and Mikasa did the same beside him. Then, he turned to her.

"Are you ready to go?"

* * *

The scene they arrived to was far less triumphant than their own endeavour.

On one of the rooftops, Mina knelt with a face turned red from recently dried tears, a bloody and unconscious Thomas in her arms. On others, cadets stood with grim expressions, their units conspicuously missing several members apiece. Against a window, Armin sat hugging his knees up to his chin, gaze wide and unblinking.

All around him, without fail, was the pervasive stench of despair.

' _What could have happened here?'_ Tanjiro thought. Then, with mounting horror, ' _And where's Eren?'_

Mikasa either didn't notice or refused to notice his absence, making a beeline straight for Reiner and his friends. "Annie! We haven't been briefed on the situation, and I apologise for bothering you, but have you seen Eren's unit?"

Annie gave her a flat stare in response, but Tanjiro could smell the hint of worry buried under other her other rampant emotions. "No. And I haven't seen anyone climb the wall, either."

Reiner chose then to speak up. "Armin's over there, though." He gestured over to the boy in question, who cowered even further into his own arms at having attention drawn to him.

Even as Mikasa approached her friend he seemed lost in his own mind, only reacting when she finally spoke to him. "Armin, are you hurt?" And then when he didn't respond, "Feeling okay?" The continued lack of response was starting to get to the normally steadfast girl. She stood up, glancing around the area. Not a single person would meet her eye. "Where's Eren? Armin?"

Armin looked up, then. His face was streaked with still-flowing tears, and now that he was no longer focused on glaring downwards the sound of choked-back sobs. It was too raw, the wounds too fresh for him to recount. It was, then, a testament to the boy's strength that he forced himself to do so regardless. "Of the 34th cadet unit… Nic Tius. Mylius Zeramuski. Eren Yaeger." Every single trainee in hearing range flinched, "All three of them have fulfilled their duty… A-And died heroic deaths in battle…" Now kneeling before Mikasa, Armin prostrated himself as if presenting his neck for execution before a monarch. "I'm sorry, Mikasa. Eren died in my stead… I couldn't even do anything! I'm so sorry!"

Tanjiro didn't think he would enjoy describing the expression on his own face, then. Years later, and he still remembered the unspeakable feelings that coursed through his body when an entire squad of Demon Slayers had their lives cut like puppet strings once their usefulness to the Demons expired. At least… It wasn't any consolation at all, but at least their deaths had been quick once decided. He couldn't imagine watching firm friends being devoured, watching them suffer tremendously in their last moments.

That would stay with both he and Armin to their graves, he thought.

Looking over at the other two survivors, Tanjiro was at least reassured that two of his friends had made it out alive, if not unharmed. Disgust welled up inside him at even daring to think those thoughts while Armin was suffering so closely nearby but he had to hold on to what hope still remained.

"T-Tanjiro…" Mina wiped her eyes off when he knelt down on Thomas' other side. "He was snatched out of the air by an aberrant a-and… and…" Whatever she was about to say devolved into tearful gasps, and despite all that had happened she wore a proud smile, however marred it was. "But I did it! I got there just in time, before it could bite down fully! And he's alive! He's… H-He's gonna make it! Eren… I didn't see what happened to Eren. I was trying so hard to stop the bleeding and get Thomas out alive, I didn't know it had happened until I heard Armin screaming. I'm sorry I couldn't save him too. I'm sorry. I'm-"

"It's okay, Mina, it's alright." He placed his hand on her shoulder, quieting their conversation as Mikasa rose to her full height and looked as though she intended on saying something to everybody. "You did everything you could, and you saved Thomas' life because of it. If you hadn't acted then he wouldn't have survived. Maybe you wouldn't be here either. You can't dwell on the people you couldn't save. I…" Tanjiro looked away, memories flashing through his mind's eye. His comrades in the forest, a man fresh from the loss of his fiancé, and the bodies of his family. "I know that. No matter how many people you lose, you have no choice but to keep on living. For them. It doesn't matter how devastating those blows may be. Fighting for the people who are still alive is all any of us can do now."

"You're… Y-You're right, but even so…"

Whatever Mina wanted to say in return was cut off when Mikasa brushed past the both of them, sparing the trio a fleeting glance over her shoulder. "Marco. If we take out the Titans around HQ, we can replenish our gas supplies and climb the wall now that the evacuation is completed. Does that sound correct?

"Yeah…" Marco blinked, wondering if he was actually hearing what he thought he was hearing as Mikasa walked past him as well to stand at the end of the rooftop. "But even with you and Tanjiro with us, there's just too many…"

"We can do it." She spoke, turning to face the rest of her fellow trainees. Slowly, she raised one of her swords. "I'm strong. Stronger than nearly all of you." A glance was spared in Tanjiro's direction, "Extremely strong. We can kill all the Titans there. Even if I have to do it alone. But if that happens… You're all either incompetent, or you're spineless cowards." Her eyes shifted around the assembled soldiers with only a scant few able to meet her muted fury head-on. "Utterly pathetic. You can all sit here and suck your thumbs like children if you have to."

The trainees that hadn't spent enough time around Mikasa couldn't understand her determination and so responded in an indignant chorus. "Hey Mikasa, what are you saying?!"

"You want to fight all those Titans by yourself?"

"There's no way you can do that!"

"If I can't, then I'll just die." She finally responded, to the shock of everyone listening. "But if I win, I live. If I don't fight, there's no chance of winning."

With that final sobering statement, Mikasa jumped from the building and began her journey to HQ, flying over a taller house in just a few seconds and growing smaller in the distance not long after.

Not a single person moved. Some glared in the departing woman's direction with resentment at being so thoroughly insulted while others glanced down to their hands or shoes, wondering if she was right all along.

So what if they all charged after her and threw away their lives? What good was all their training if members of the top ten like Eren would still get taken out with ease?

But what other choice was there?

' _When the time is right, you will not falter. Whatever it is that you decide… All that I ask is that you are capable of telling me, without hesitation, that you did what you believed was best.'_

His eyes opened. He never even remembered shutting them.

Footsteps broke the soldiers from their wallowing. Tanjiro walked the same route along the roof that Mikasa had done before him, the echoing of boots on tiles conspicuous in its softness. All eyes were on him, soldiers watching with bated breath to know what the only other person on par with Mikasa would decide to do.

He reached the same point at the edge and turned on his heels, hand gripping the hilt of his sword. With a motion nearly imperceptible in its speed, the onyx-coloured blade was drawn and pointed to the sky.

' _I can do it. I know I can do it. The time is right, and I have to make my decision.'_

"We're not going to let Mikasa fight alone." He kept his voice steady and commanding, swinging his weapon to point towards their target. "Between us and our escape, there are Titans. They've already taken some of us. It might seem like all hope is gone, or that we stand no chance of winning, but how can that be true? If humanity didn't stand a chance, how would we still be standing here, over a hundred years after they appeared? I'll tell you why! It's because we can win that we're here now! We have to be the very best, for the sake of all those who're counting on us! If any of you have families waiting for you to come home safely. If any of you have people you're trying to protect, then you have to take your stand now! Just like Mikasa said: if you don't even try to fight, there's no chance at all of victory!" With that, Tanjiro turned to face the ledge and let his sword arm fall to his side.

There could be no guarantee that his fellow soldiers would follow him into battle.

A very real possibility existed that he would be facing the hordes alone with Mikasa.

And yet, trusting in everybody he had sworn to fight alongside, Tanjiro Kamado leapt from his perch and took flight.

Hearing the sounds of cables being fired off behind him and a rallying cheer welling up amongst the trainees mere moments later was a beautiful sound.

* * *

A single group remained on the building, glancing tensely towards their key player.

"Are you sure about this, Bertholdt?"

"Positive. He broke through my steam and would have cut clean through my head if I had transformed back even a quarter of a second later. Tanjiro could be the greatest threat on Paradis right this second." The man in question shifted and pulled his hand away from his neck, palm coming away with fresh blood still painted upon it.

"What the hell? Why aren't you healed up already?" Reiner growled. Had Bertholdt worn himself out so quickly that his regeneration was dulled?

"I couldn't tell you. It doesn't matter. Whatever happens today, Tanjiro has to die if we're going to succeed in the future."

Silence.

"But… If he really is from Hizuru…"

"Then he's chosen his side and is now our enemy. And I think he does know what's going on, for what it's worth. When I broke the gate, he was the first one on top of the wall again. He told me that he 'didn't care who I was', and that he'd…" Bertholdt paused to let out a shaky sigh and massage the back of his neck once again. "That he'd never forgive someone who chooses to kill innocent people."

To the side, their female companion glanced away.

"He should know damn well we don't have a choice, then!" Reiner hissed, fists clenched, "Doesn't he have a family he's always going on about, too? I'd like to see him act high and mighty if he were in our situation."

"What if we can make him understand that?" Annie chose then to cut through the conversation with her arms crossed.

"What do you mean?"

"If he knew what kind of situation we were in, do you really think Tanjiro's the type to be so unforgiving? Cringeworthy as it is for someone so strong, he's too soft-hearted for that."

They all stopped to consider that, thinking back to the many evenings they had spent training with Tanjiro. What had once been merely an attempt to subtly probe the boy for information on his origins had turned into something all three of them had started to genuinely enjoy.

Of all the things that could be said about him, none could ever call Tanjiro a cold person.

"… Maybe." Bertholdt allowed. "The way he speaks about her, he would do anything for his sister. Even fighting off an army of Titans for the tiniest chance of seeing her again." He uttered those last words with breathless realisation.

"You think we can convince him to work with us?"

"Not necessarily. But if we intend to keep up our deception, he's an obstacle we have to deal with one way or the other. He doesn't show it off very often, but he has incredibly keen senses. If he knows that one of us is a Titan I don't think it'd take him too long to find us out. Assuming we can at least convince him to leave us alone, then we can let him live."

"And if we can't?"

Bertholdt's expression dropped into something dark and he became suddenly unwilling to meet the eyes of his compatriots. "Then we kill him."

Doubt blossomed ever onward.

* * *

A long time ago, Tanjiro had been very much afraid of taking on the Titans. The initial assumption had been that they were as strong and nimble as any other Demon but grown to far greater sizes and naturally toughened bodies.

Where the prodigious size and strength had proven true, the Titans' sluggishness and lack of intellect or drive made them shockingly simple foes.

Yet another Titan had its head separated from its body as Tanjiro tore through the air, slipping underneath an archway and shooting a hook on its underside In order to launch himself even higher into the sky. He came down like a comet to rip past another of the Demons. The majority of them lacked even the time to react before they were killed.

Glistening threads connected his sword to each Titan that he glanced towards and he was more than willing to follow their paths. At any time that he wasn't zipping through the sky, he was sprinting along rooftops and constantly utilising Splashing Water Flow to maximize his manoeuvrability. Aside from that, his foes didn't necessitate the usage of any of his other Water Breathing techniques.

On the very edge of his perception, he saw Mikasa cleaving her own path through the tide of Demons, sparing only the briefest of glances to acknowledge his presence before increasing her speed further than ever now that she knew she had allies at her side.

Of course, trouble often has a tendency to strike when least convenient.

From behind an ornate chapel came a flying mass of flesh and gangly limbs, soaring towards him with its arms outstretched. 

Turning his body to face the clouds, Tanjiro boosted himself upwards to narrowly avoid being torn from the air by the abnormal Titan, then launched a cable into a nearby building to land on its flat roof.

Its attention was focused solely on him for some reason or another, having ignored both Marco and Connie on its attack route. There was little use trying to decipher the behaviours of aberrant Titans, hence the name, but this was absurd! Worse still, it seemed more than willing to strike again.

"Wait for it…" He mumbled to himself, staring at the creature as it collapsed part of another structure upon landing, only for it to right itself and prepare for another great leap, all with a manic, obscenely stretched grin on its face. "Wait for it…!"

His position was off, and he knew it. None of his techniques would be able to get him around its body to hit from the right angle. Tanjiro could see its body tensing, and he knew it was instants away from attacking.

No. There was one. Just one attack that might be able to save him.

It was something he had never truly learned to control consistently, having lost the chance to inquire about it to Rengoku all those years ago, and his opportunities to practice without being spied upon had been few and far between.

But that didn't mean he was incapable.

Time slowed to a crawl as the grey-haired Demon shot towards Tanjiro like a gigantic bullet. When Tanjiro next drew breath, it was with a markedly different cadence. He raised his sword in a two-handed grip to point back over his shoulder and widened his stance, teeth grit with determination.

"Hinokami Kagura-"

The Titan's jaw opened wide in the hopes of devouring the Demon Slayer whole.

_Woods filled with gently falling snow._

_His father, glowing in the tender torchlight._

_A young Tanjiro, watching in amazement as the frail man he adored so much found the power to perform his duties through the night._

"- Dance!"

Mortality defined in a single blow.

Purest flames wreathed his sword in strength as it was brought down upon the Demon's head.

It was said and studied that a Titan-class Demon's only weak point was the nape of their neck. Everywhere else was too resilient to cut through reliably, and even if one managed to do so the damage would simply be regenerated in a moment's notice.

Tanjiro's blade parted the monster's head in twain as easily as the threads conjured by the Lower Moon 5, but then kept going. It had only been a three-meter-tall Titan, and once its momentum finally ceased it was cut in two almost down to the waist.

There was a profound silence as the defeated corpse slid from the rooftop and crashed to the floor. As a consequence of his exertion, he felt exhaustion flood his bones for the first time in a long while. Not since he spent day after day first trying to acquire Total Concentration: Constant had he felt this fatigued.

Letting himself drop down to a sitting position and rest was the only course of action available to him, so he didn't try to fight it.

A rumbling sounded off in the distance, growing closer by the minute. Windows rattled in their fixtures. He could hear several roof tiles dislodge themselves and shatter upon the ground, but the weariness was strong enough to prevent him from standing to escape what he knew was coming.

He realised only when another Titan barrelled around the corner with footfalls that shook the earth and proceeded to stomp on the defeated Demon's remains until they were a bloody pulp that Tanjiro understood why all of his comrades had fallen silent.

All he could do was with in slack-jawed confusion as this new abnormality finally considered itself satisfied with its actions and roared a mighty challenge to the sky.

The situation was complicated enough as it was, and the feeling of insanity grew rapidly once a particular scent brushed across his nose.

This new Titan bore black hair and wild, angular features. What struck Tanjiro most of all, though, was when it turned its petrifying gaze upon him with a completely unreadable face.

Those piercing, teal-green eyes…

' _Why… Does it smell like Eren…?'_

* * *

' _Journal of Tanjiro Kamado, Volume Five, Day ?_

_I'm writing this to you in spare time I didn't think I would get._

_Eren, Armin, and Mikasa are being held somewhere else. It doesn't look good._

_Trost is overrun with Demons._

_Nic, Mylius, Franz, Tom, and Millius all died trying to fight them. They weren't the only ones. So many more people lost their lives today._

_We thought Eren was dead too, but… All this time, he had been one of the transforming Demons too. A good one. I watched him kill a whole lot of other Demons that day. He wasn't… He didn't seem in control while he was transformed, though. It was as if all that he had become was his desire to slaughter the Titans._

_How?_

_We had been around each other for so long! Why couldn't I ever sense that he was a Demon? I'm not mad at him at all for hiding it from the rest of us, I'm scared that my sense of smell is going to fail me when I need it the most._

_Eren wasn't one of the three people I suspected were Demons. That means that there's more than one Demon in our class._

_If there's at least two, who's to say there aren't more?_

_And I think… I think there_ _**are** _ _more, Nezuko. I don't want to suspect any more of my friends but I don't have a choice. If I'm not able to detect these Demons until they decide to transform then I might as well not know there are Demons around at all._

_What makes it worse is that he tried to hide it from me. If he hadn't, I might not have suspected anything of it._

_He faced away from me whenever he saw me or stood against walls and pillars if he couldn't avoid conversation. I could smell it, at least._

_The bleeding cut on Bertholdt's neck. Right where I cut the Colossal Titan._

_Worst of all, though, is that I think Bertholdt knows that I suspect him too._

_He has to pay for what he's done._

_I just don't know how._

_Hang on… I have to go, Nezuko. A cannon just fired off where they're holding Eren I havetogo, loveyoubye!'_

* * *

The plan was to re-take Trost and therefore Wall Rose by having Eren use his Titan form to plug the gap with a massive boulder.

How things had gotten to this point in what felt like only a few short hours was beyond Tanjiro, but he'd admit to being ecstatic that he could now say he'd met yet another Demon who he could call a friend. Yushiro would probably smack him if he heard Tanjiro call him a friend, though there would probably not be a particularly strong denial to accompany it.

Once all was said and done, he intended on asking Eren a whole cavalcade of questions. Until then, he had a job to do.

Tanjiro was in a unique position owed to the skill he had displayed during the initial battle for Trost. That combined with not being one of Eren's very closest friends or a senior officer meant that whilst he was to be on the ground level slaying any abberant Titans that wouldn't fall for their planned mass lure, he was not travelling directly with Eren to oversee his transformation.

It was a shame, really. Although he had been looking the correct way when the Colossal Titan – Tanjiro flinched inwardly at that particular mess – had emerged, he didn't get a good look at the actual process of the change. Being able to properly examine what happens during the transformation from human to Demon would be vital since if he wanted to stand the best chance of finding a cure for Nezuko.

' _Well…'_ , he mused shortly after cutting through the nape of yet another Titan that had wandered away from the pack, ' _There'll be time for that later.'_

Sheathing his sword and standing on the highest nearby vantage point he could find, he spotted a few other teams far off in the distance darting around Trost on their own patrols and knelt down to watch them, unable to catch the scent of any other Demons in the area.

A familiar crashing thunderbolt brought his attention to Eren, whose upper body was visible behind a great many layers of buildings. He had to be a fifteen-meter class Titan, at least. Now that the lingering worry for everybody else's safety had mostly passed, he allowed himself to calm down and watch his friend go to work.

That was, until Eren turned from the boulder he was supposed to be carrying and put his fist through the house that Mikasa was standing upon.

Tanjiro was on his feet immediately, dead set on crossing the distance to find out just what the hell had happened when a voice called out to him first.

"Hey! Tanjiro, c'mon! Down here. I need to talk to you." He squinted down to find Reiner on the dirt path below, gesturing for him to go and join him on the floor.

Reason dictated that going for a clearly suspicious rendezvous with someone who had very strong ties to someone he suspected to be the Colossal Titan wasn't the greatest of plans, but he had caught Bertholdt's scent some time ago and felt that he was a great distance away. No chance of him listening in.

The timing was far too coincidental given what had recently occurred. Problematically enough, this would possibly be the only chance he got anytime soon to have a private conversation with someone about a topic so sensitive.

Throwing doubt to the wind, Tanjiro hopped down from the building and landed comfortably in front of the tall blonde. "What is it, Reiner? Why all the secrecy?"

Reiner peered down at him; burly arms crossed. He grumbled, running a hand over the back of his head and looking away. "You've got your sister, right? Nezuko?"

Tanjiro blinked owlishly, cocking his head to one side. That line of questioning wasn't at all what he expected out of this meeting. "I… Yeah, I do. Why?"

"She's precious to you."

"More than anything else. She's all I have left of my family." He frowned, unsure as to the point of all this. "You knew that already."

Reiner sighed, and when he next opened his eyes they were supremely tired. "Yeah. I did. See, I don't talk about my family much." He continued without prompting, "But to cut a long story short, I've only been able to see my old man once since I was a few months old. My father's… _people_ , they hated my mother and hers. My parents still loved each other, so I thought. I became a soldier because his people respect the truly skilled members of the Military. The real warriors. If I could be the best warrior possible, they might let me see my dad again."

"Reiner…" Tanjiro's eyes softened. He'd never known the upbeat big brother of their class had been harbouring such sorrow all this time.

"I was willing to do whatever it took to see my family together again, even if my old man spat on it all in the end. What I wanna know, Tanjiro… Is how far are _you_ willing to go to protect your sister?"

He didn't know how to respond. It seemed like a surface-level question but Tanjiro could sense the underlying danger there. If he answered incorrectly, whatever that meant in this case, then things would take a turn for the worse. "I'd… do almost anything to protect Nezuko." He decided was a safe answer.

"Almost?"

"I'll become as strong as I have to for her. I'll fight any enemy that threatens her. But I will never hurt anyone innocent, not even if it kills me." Tanjiro's last comment was specifically barbed to gauge for a reaction, and he got one.

"You know about Bertholdt."

So, it was true. "… I do."

Reiner uncrossed his arms and properly measured himself up to Tanjiro. "I'm the Armoured Titan."

Yet again, Tanjiro found himself cursing his inability to sense Demons when they were in human form, but he supposed this time it made sense. Bertholdt and Reiner were practically inseparable. Still… "Why tell me this now? If Bertholdt told you what I said to him on top of Wall Rose, then that's still true. I'm not going to forgive you two for the amount of pain you caused."

"I'm telling you this because I want you to understand that we don't have a choice like you think we do. Are you honestly telling me that, if it meant the alternative was watching your sister get executed in front of you, you wouldn't do whatever you had to in order to make things right again?"

"That's completely different, Reiner!" Tanjiro shouted, now feeling exceedingly angry. "If those were the only options I had, I'd choose to fight the people forcing me into that situation in the first place! I don't care who'd try and make me do it, I will never let _anyone_ hurt Nezuko! So, tell me Reiner, what were you thinking when you listened to Eren talk about what happened to his family? When you and Bertholdt stood by and heard about what you did to him? You must've been living as refugees like me; what about the two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand people that died to solve the food shortage?! You can't seriously be telling me that your _only option_ was to murder that many innocent people!"

"What would you have me do?" Reiner snorted with a level of dismissal that further enraged the Demon Slayer.

"Aren't you best friends with Bertholdt?! Surely with the power of your Titans, they couldn't possibly stop you from taking your family back!"

"And then we'd be hunted down forever with nowhere to go."

"You would have been accepted _here_!" Tanjiro gestured widely around him, "With these people! Who wouldn't have had any reason to hate you for being one thing or another!"

The blonde man stiffened and remained silent for several seconds after that, letting the sounds of destruction saturate the air once more.

Whether Reiner had genuinely never examined the possibility or not, the fact remained that too much blood stood needlessly spilled by the hands of the two people he used to call friends. "I can't forgive him, Reiner. And I can't forgive you either. Even if you're right and you really don't have a choice, I have to stop you."

Demons rarely had a choice in their actions. It was his duty to cut them down regardless of this fact, no matter how he would connect with their sorrows after all was said done.

His once-friend raised a hand to his mouth. "I was afraid you'd say that. You're a good guy, Tanjiro, but you're still too naïve. I really didn't wanna have to do this."

And with that, he let out a shrill, piercing whistle, causing Tanjiro to stiffen and ready his hand on his sword. Bertholdt's scent hadn't moved, and the sound most likely wouldn't have reached the soldiers atop the wall so why-

_!_

Tanjiro had the merest of instants to react as a large figure loomed behind him, rolling to the side just in the nick of time when something passed right by the space he'd occupied.

Recovering from his roll only to have to dive back again when the mysterious Titan's other leg struck out, he only had a moment to realise that Reiner had already beaten a hasty retreat before he turned to look at this new threat.

It was obviously a Titan, but it shared a few disturbing similarities with the Colossal Titan in the exposed portions of what looked to be muscle lining its body. It bore an intense gaze framed by blonde hair, and most strangely of all it appeared to be female. Not in the way that some of the Demons possessed somewhat feminine faces, but in the sense that it had a very pronounced chest and a much lither body overall.

For Reiner to have called this Titan here meant she was intelligent, and for him to trust her with distracting him or otherwise neutralising him where a monster like Bertholdt had failed to do so meant that she was incredibly dangerous.

It – she? – continued to peer down at him as his mind ran through this information, both arms raised in a disturbingly familiar combat stance. How could he not recognise something he had seen every time there was an unarmed combat training exercise, or every time a particular trio of companions had visited him for his evening training.

"Annie…" Tanjiro spoke, a weak note in his voice that he hated to hear when there were other things to worry about. "Not you too…"

Whatever emotion flashed in the depths of the Female Titan's eyes was made moot by virtue of her lashing out once more. She lashed out with another sweeping kick which Tanjiro neatly hopped over. On his way above the limb, he made an attempt to slash at it, only to be rebuffed when the patch of flesh he had intended to strike had gained a crystalline blue sheen and become exponentially tougher.

The unexpected resistance almost made him lose his grip on his sword, and the follow-up return sweep with the same leg forced him to use his gas canisters to boost himself out of the way.

This time, he fired a cable into a nearby building and swung forward with the intent to hit her thigh as he went, but Annie seemed ready for it and responded in the same method as before.

Not foolish enough to let the opportunity pass her by, she swung her hand behind her much as the Bertholdt had done minus the disadvantage of lethargic movements. Despite forcing himself to return to the ground with a hook, Annie predicted the movement and kicked up behind herself, finally landing a solid blow.

He was sent careening into a wall, only preventing himself from tumbling uncontrollably by counteracting the movement as best he could; his hands found purchase on a ledge at the moment of impact and scrambled quickly to the surface.

Annie didn't seem set on giving him any time to rest. Her hand came down on his new perch as a closed fist, punching right through brick and mortar when she missed by inches.

' _Come on, think! Spirit alone isn't enough to get anywhere, you know that! So-'_ His musings paused when he was made to flip over a flat palm sent over the rooftop. ' _Don't just throw yourself at her. Think!'_

Tanjiro used the flip to return to ground level, sliding down the tarpaulin storefront and leaping off of it at the apex of his descent along with a surge of propellant. The act stunned Annie long enough for him to slip past her guard and score a very quick gash on her forearm before landing on a building on the opposite side of the street.

' _Why isn't anyone coming to help? Surely we've been spotted by now! Unless… they assume I've got it handled, and don't want to send anyone else in case it attracts more Titans?'_ He sighed. Back-up wasn't an option to rely on, then. It was just him against a Demon that threatened him and his friends. Nothing new there.

Fingers flexed around a sword's handle, and Tanjiro readied his stance for Annie's next move. She seemed reticent, standing completely still and staring at something Tanjiro couldn't see. Her head was turned slightly to face him, though, and he could see the confusion there even without his sense of smell telling him such.

"You don't have to do this, Annie. Not if you don't want to. I heard stories about the Armoured Titan and the Colossal Titan, but nothing about you! You haven't killed anyone yet, have you? Not here, anyway." That realisation had hit him while they fought. Perhaps it was foolish to hope that she really hadn't killed anyone given that she worked closely with two infamous Demons, but he wanted so desperately to cling onto that hope. When he thought back to their time as recruits, he wondered all the time why he would occasionally sense heavy amounts of guilt coming from the blonde girl.

If he was correct – and he badly wanted it to be so – then this situation might be resolved without him having to kill her.

Rather than pacifying her, his words seemed to spur her into action all over again. Annie stepped forward; a hand raised high into the air.

With his attention focused on the more obvious threat, Tanjiro only noticed that she intended to strike with her knee first when he had next to no time to dodge. It was only by thinking quickly that he found an opportunity to do so.

He jumped yet again, turning his body sideways and propelling himself out of the miniscule gap that she'd left for him, then immediately broke into a run once he hit the floor. Splashes of water accompanied his hastened steps.

Tanjiro realised that Annie was done taking him lightly the second he started to do so. Powerful legs kicked out in rapid succession, forcing him to duck and weave constantly whilst simultaneously keeping an eye out for the rare moments where she would feint her movements and try to catch him out. As he was now, though, she wasn't finding much success.

That all changed when he artfully slid under a foot that flew only slightly off the floor and twisted to do so on his back, making sure that he was ready to launch two cables at her back when he emerged behind her. Pushing full throttle on his gas brought him shooting upwards, and he could just barely see the opening thread start to form when she utilised her hardening technique from before, dislodging the hooks and leaving him hanging awkwardly in the air.

' _Crap!'_ He saw the world in slow motion as her open palm came crashing through the air towards him. While watching the hand coming to swat him from the sky, Tanjiro noticed flecks of blood falling from a still-bleeding wound. An idea came to the forefront of his mind as fast as it could, but he'd no idea how successful it would be. ' _This had better work...'_

Righting himself in the air, his blade stood ready, one elbow tucked into the other. Though not needing to, he let a deep breath fill his body with power. ' _First Form… Water Surface Slash!_ '

Just as the hand entered his space he leaned backwards to slip only barely under her pinkie finger right at the instant where he unleashed his attack. Expecting his retaliation, her arm became that strange crystal yet again. Except for the laceration he'd caused earlier. Precisely where he had aimed.

His sword gouged deeper into her flesh this time, the tip of his sword becoming visible out the other side.

Pushing his gas to full thrust, Tanjiro rose in the air at the same as he launched a cable straight downwards without reeling himself in.

Despite not appearing to feel the pain, Annie stared in awe at the injuries in her limb that adamantly failed to heal, too occupied with the abnormality to notice her adversary trigger his propulsion and activate his cable once more when he was directly above her shoulder.

' _Eighth Form…'_

Tanjiro returned to Earth like a vengeful meteor, geysers of rushing water emerging from his blade once it made contact with the dirt and shredding through everything that it passed.

' _Waterfall Basin!'_

A hefty thud heralded the separation of Annie's left arm when the limb fell uselessly to the floor, leaving her with a continuously bleeding shoulder.

Risking a glance up, Tanjiro found the girl staring down at him with what looked like awe, her jaw hanging just the tiniest bit agape.

Though the battle thus far had been one of the toughest in recent memory, it was not nearly as tiring as the battle against Rui on Natagumo Mountain. Nor were the stakes yet high enough for Tanjiro to think he had no choice but to kill someone he used to call a comrade.

"There's still time, Annie." His voice was rougher than he would have expected, raw as if he were trying to hold back tears. "I can hold you off until Eren blocks off the gate, and then you'll be stuck with the entire Military chasing you down. If you transform now, I promise I won't tell a single soul about what you are." Tanjiro extended his hand, smiling in spite of the dust and rubble clinging to his face and uniform.

Silence reigned save for the rhythmic dripping of Annie's blood.

Then, the Titan's face shuddered, and she looked up at the sky. Her mouth opened, and the smile on Tanjiro's face had just enough time to slip before a shriek of incredible volume rent the world.

The Demon Slayer slammed his hands over his ears and held his eyes shut, wincing in pain. He wasn't prepared at all for sound-based attacks!

It was over in an instant. He risked cracking an eye open to see Annie staring down at him, watching. Gauging.

Multiple scents entered his range, then. _'Two- no, five. No… nine. Fifteen! What's going on? Annie… Did she do this? Did that scream summon the Titans?!'_

Wasting no time using his gear, Tanjiro took one great leap and landed upon a nearby house, staring in mounting dread as every single Demon that the rest of the Garrison had been holding at bay marched their way towards his location. They paid no heed to buildings in their wake, crushing aside all in their path as they heeded the call of the Female Titan. The number of gangly, distorted bodies he could see increased by the second.

A quick series of rumbling footsteps brought his attention back to Annie and he saw that she had moved to stand in the direction closest to Wall Rose. If he tried to take his one escape from the horde, she would block his way.

' _I'm on a time limit. I have to beat Annie and get out of here before those Titans arrive! I'm not ready to take on that many at once. All they have to do is get lucky once or twice and I'll have nobody to rescue me.'_ Tanjiro realised, swiping his sword to the right to clear it of any traces of blood before holding the handle ready over his shoulder, blade pointed forward. Kindness had to take a backseat for now. All that remained on his face was steeled determination.

Without knowing why, a memory from three years ago sounded in his head.

' _One boy with a sword isn't changing the world any time soon.'_

Tanjiro laughed privately. ' _Well. If I wanna prove that wrong, looks like I have to make it out of this alive, doesn't it?'_

And so it came to be that, trapped between innumerable Titans and an ally that had so utterly betrayed him, Tanjiro Kamado charged forward with not a single trace of hesitation in his form.

Annie was ready for his assault this time, and the lack of one arm seemed not to daunt her at all. She bent low on his approach, bringing her remaining fist up in a formidable punch that was never intended to land, only to force him to change directions momentarily.

When he avoided the attack as expected, she continued her unyielding series of blows with several sweeping kicks aimed at different altitudes to give him the most trouble dodging.

Tanjiro leapt over the first pass and hooked to a wall, utilising the Ninth Form constantly on the uneven terrain. He sprinted along the surface, connecting a hook to the opposite row of buildings for when she adjusted her kicks yet again in order to dodge and start leaping across rooftops instead.

She had difficulties tracking his motions once he slipped into his rhythm, and that would prove fatal in short order. Lacking an arm, Annie was forced to constantly angle her right side towards him wherever he was so that she could react in time to his attacks, but he wasn't of a mind to make that a simple task.

' _My gas is running dangerously low. The Demons aren't too far off, either! Come on, Tanjiro, you've got to keep going! If this doesn't decide it, I'm done for!'_

He paused on a balcony just long enough to correct the grip he had on his sword before disappearing from sight again, but it was enough for Annie to catch his trail again. A luminous blue glow seemed to follow him wherever he went, and only on a closer look would it have been obvious that it was streams of water gathering on his blade.

Annie sensed him stepping closer into her range and a fist rocketed towards him, the tell-tale shimmer of her hardening growing to cover her hand and travel further up her forearm. Clearly, she wasn't taking risks anymore.

It didn't matter.

The dancing waves on his sword uncoiled to form the head of a great water dragon, and the passage of his strikes would become its body when Tanjiro threw himself forward, travelling past the point that the hardening had grown to cover and _spinning_ , letting the power of the Tenth Form sunder sinew and bone on its way through, and once more Annie found herself losing an arm.

Tanjiro was vulnerable to her only method of attack now that he was on the ground. Both of them knew it, and even in the face of plummeting to the ground in a spin had instantly began his advance anew.

Backed into a corner, Annie chose to fight to the last. She sprinted forward herself, aiming to knock him out of his rhythm and throw him into a wall to end the battle.

_All this time, there has been one inviolable fact about Tanjiro._

A dragon roared its dominance as its wielder caught the Titan's ankle, biting down and ripping straight through her skin. And still, the Demon Slayer continued his rotations, each strike owing to the technique's increasing power.

_No matter what he may do in the future._

Annie stumbled onto her knees and found herself unable to catch her fall with her hands, thus her upper half fell to the floor. In the face of every amount of punishment she'd withstood up until now, she began to rise again.

_No matter if he loses his way._

Tanjiro cleaved through her other leg before she could manage to do so, knocking her to the ground face-first as she gave a roar of indignation.

_Even if he fails in his duties._

He jumped atop her hamstrings and never once lost any momentum, the dragon that was the ultimate technique of Water Breathing growing immensely long. Stepping fiercely on her lower back, Tanjiro leapt as high as he could into the air, spinning until the very apex of his motion where he began to plunge downward.

_He will always be…_

With nothing else to focus her power upon, Annie brought every single drop of her energy to the forefront to defend the nape of her neck. Crystal grew thickly around it, forming a defence tougher than she had ever once had to create before. All she had to do was keep him from defeating her until the Titans arrived, and their footsteps were now beginning to shake the earth around them.

Giving a great bellow for his last act in this battle, Tanjiro emptied his entire supply of propellant into his descent, and the beast of Constant Flux expanded to encompass the Demon Slayer's entire being.

His blade struck crystal.

_The boy who cut the boulder._

* * *

Tanjiro returned to consciousness moments later, slumped over the still-smouldering corpse of the Female Titan.

The battered form of Annie jutted out from the body's neck. It seemed that she wasn't unharmed enough to be awake just yet. A good thing, in his opinion. If she were able to face him, ask him why he had pulled his strike back just far enough to spare her life, Tanjiro wasn't sure what answer he'd be able to give her.

He brought himself up to stand with his sheathed sword as support, breaths ragged and hoarse. For once he was no longer channelling Total Concentration, and losing that constant strength made this new exhaustion ever the more debilitating.

There wasn't much time before the Demons were upon them.

Tanjiro limped his way over to his opponent and grabbed hold of her underarms. He pulled, and pulled again, but still the strange connections holding Annie to the Titan refused to shift. He paused. Then, with one more burst of Total Concentration Breathing, Tanjiro yanked the soldier from her prison and fell to the floor with her.

Affixing his sword to his hip, he supported Annie with his shoulder once he was able to get them both to their feet.

Not a moment too soon.

The first wave of the Titan horde was now close enough for him to make out their features, and there was nowhere for him to go.

His gas canisters lay empty in their slots, having been completely spent to make sure that there was no chance of him failing.

It looked like, even after all that, he wasn't going to be making it out regardless. Strength was sapped from his limbs, and it was only weakly that he could hold the pommel of his sword in preparation.

His ears caught the faint sound of a whisper.

"Why are you… protecting me…?" Annie's tone was nearly completely unrecognisable. Gone was the stern, cynical bite that she had always carried proudly with her, and there was no trace of her confidence. All that remained was a vulnerable husk, utterly resigned to whatever fate had in store for her. "Just take my canisters and go. Why would you waste your life… trying to save mine?"

She could barely keep her eyes open, and still she was finding it in her to insult his choices.

Tanjiro couldn't help but laugh. A disbelieving sound unfit for the situation at hand, but even that lifted his spirits somewhat.

Distant recollections of that terrible time on Natagumo Mountain continued to pervade his memories. An answer he'd given to Giyu all those years ago would serve equally as an answer here.

"To dispel the regrets of those killed… to stop any more victims from appearing, I will relentlessly wield my blade against the Demons, and that will never change. But…" He looked over to her with that same compassionate smile on his face, a smile filled with the pure contentment of having been able to save a life. "I will never trample on the pains of being a Demon. Nor on those who regret their actions. Because Demons were humans, once. They were humans, just like me. You aren't a bad person, Annie. I could sense the guilt that followed you. If you were like Reiner, or Bertholdt, you would feel nothing about what you were made to partake in. That isn't the case. You're your own person."

She looked at him, tired eyes wide open. Forever would she deny the faint stinging of unshed tears that lingered there then.

"Tanjiro! Annie!"

They both turned up to face Mikasa, Armin, and several of the others landing in front of them, their comrades wasting no time in sprinting up to them and presenting several fresh canisters of gas. All of them looked overjoyed to see them safe.

A man beside them wore a green cape bearing the insignia of the Survey Corps, overseeing the situation with a dull look on his face.

"What happened here? Why's Annie out of the formation? Where's Reiner and Bertholdt?" Armin gabbled off, his own expression growing more fearful with each question that he asked. "A-Are they…?"

Annie could feel Tanjiro's hold tighten around her just then and knew that whatever words came out of his mouth next would decide whether she lived or died.

"Bertholdt…" The Demon Slayer started slowly; lips set in a thin line with uncharacteristic anger. "I'm sorry to report that Bertholdt and Reiner have betrayed humanity. Each of them respectively can transform into the Colossal and Armoured Titans. They were using Annie as a hostage to try and prevent me from aiding Eren."

Amidst the flurry of shocked yells and hurried questions that rose up in response to Tanjiro's false report as they retreated up to the wall to leave the Titans behind, Annie felt herself go slack.

Perhaps in another, kinder world she would have felt relief at long last, but she knew well that the nightmare wouldn't end here for her.

Somehow or another, her _ex-_ comrades would be back. Her titan was too valuable to Marley to leave behind. Her secret wouldn't remain as such for long, and that would reveal Tanjiro's deception in turn.

Yet still he risked himself for her sake, after all she had done to him.

Even though the desire to return home to her father would never once falter within her, she had a chance now to be something she had never been afforded the opportunity to be before.

Her own person.

* * *

Days passed by quickly after that. Life changes like the weather, shifting course on its own whims unto eternity. When grief finally passes, there will always be peace to fill the void, at whatever cost it comes.

Thanks to the Survey Corps and the Garrison engineers' quick response, Wall Rose had once again repelled the Titans' advance. An entire day was required to eradicate the Titans from Trost District by using the wall's fixed cannons around the clock. High explosive shells annihilated the majority of the Titans swarming the wall, and the Survey Corps eliminated the few that remained.

Furthermore, a four-meter-class and seven-meter-class Titan were captured alive.

On the other hand, 205 were killed or missing in action, and another 897 were left injured. Another two had been banished from the Walls.

An official warning had been offered once Annie had corroborated with Tanjiro's initial report, with posters hanging on nearly every alley or signboard warning the public of the true identities of the two Titans that had brought them all to their knees four years ago. As of then, no sign of Bertholdt or Reiner's whereabouts had been found.

Repelling the Titans for the very first time in history was a noteworthy feat, yes, but simply far too much had been lost to allow for a true celebration.

As for the trainees, they spent the better portion of a week searching the streets of Trost District for the bodies of those that humanity lost.

Tanjiro found himself roaming the main road with a weary expression hidden behind his sanitary mask. Being blessed with a potent sense of smell did not make for a pleasant experience in dealing with the dead. The stench of blood and decay had so firmly flooded his nostrils that he'd requested a peg to keep his nose shut while he worked.

Rubble littered the pathway almost as numerously as the bodies of soldiers. Repairing Trost would and had come at a hefty price, yet humanity would have to pay that toll time and time again if they wished to truly repel the Demons.

His steps echoed off the empty houses, and not for the first time he wished that he had just been that tiny amount faster when fighting Bertholdt's Titan. If he had done so then they wouldn't have to fear the gates being breached nearly so quickly.

A muted but familiar scent brought him to a standstill when he turned his head.

Laying discarded in the dust was a woman's upper torso, waves of scorched blonde hair laying tattered beneath her as she stared unblinkingly into the blue skies above. Rose insignias adorned her uniform, and even without the scent he would have recognised the face that rested before him.

"Do you know her?" One of the nearby medical staff inquired, a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We're still missing her name."

All he could do was stand there and swallow the complicated bundle of emotions settling in his stomach. "Y-Yes. Yeah, I knew her. Rina Castelle. Wall Rose Garrison, division three." Tanjiro shook his head, "Or that was her division four years ago, at least. I… I don't know where she went after that."

The nurse gave him a sympathetic nod and he could tell from the shifting of her cheeks that she was attempting to provide a comforting smile also. "I'm sorry. That must be hard for you. I'll be sure to add her name to the memorial."

"… Thank you."

She departed on that note, off to provide the same service to any other poor trainee who came across the discarded corpses of people that they knew.

Rina Castelle…

All these years and he'd thought her to be selfish in a time of crisis, funnelling extra food to her family at the expense of others.

' _How far are_ _ **you**_ _willing to go to protect your sister?'_

Tanjiro flinched at the memory as if physically struck and in a moment of painful clarity realised that, faced with the starving faces of his family during a tragedy like the one they had faced so many years ago, he couldn't honestly say he wouldn't do everything in his power to make sure they were well fed and happy.

And at the end of it all, when it had mattered the most, she had stepped up to fight for humanity at the cost of her own life.

Rina hadn't been a bad person. Simply a decent person thrust into a situation where being decent wasn't ideal. She'd shown her true courage and had died alone to be discovered by a man who may not even have recognised her if she hadn't been one of the first people he had seen within the walls.

It wasn't fair.

This place was cruel. Cold and unfeeling like the very walls that surrounded it. Every inch of peace must be claimed with a mile of suffering, and those within would know no true rest until every last Titan was defeated

And yet…

"Tanjiro!" Mina and Thomas waved at him from the start of the main road with bright smiles on their faces, "Sasha managed to find that meat she stashed away before the battle! We're dividing it up now, c'mon and hurry up before you lose your share!"

Maybe, in the end, it was a place fighting for.


End file.
